Molasses Oatmeal Banana Bread - Vegan Recipe

Oh Banana Bread... how we love you!  Since the kids were babies, Banana Bread of all sorts has been not only a staple in our kitchen but also a vehicle to pump healthy ingredients into the kids without them really knowing it.

I've gone so far as to add spinach and avocado to recipes (with success I might add!), but we keep returning to an old favorite recipe (and spinach-free version...) - Oatmeal Banana Bread with Molasses.

Tender and flavorful, we easily removed the dairy when my son became intolerant, but would the old recipe stand up to becoming "veganized"?  Absolutely.

The banana and oatmeal bring a tender moistness while the walnuts add a touch of texture.  But I think it's the molasses that kicks this recipe over the top with a rich pop of flavor that leaves you simply wanting more.

Fabulous fresh from the oven, we've been known to demolish an entire loaf before the last slice cools.  However if you can save enough for breakfast the next morning, a toasted slice slathered with peanut butter and topped with sliced banana is pure heaven.

Whether serving to your plant-based friends or not, this recipe may rise to the top of your most used recipes once you give it a go.  

Cheers my friends, here's to banana love!

Kim

Molasses Oatmeal Banana Bread
Tender and moist, this banana bread brings big flavor as well as low fat nutrition.  Fabulous fresh from the oven this bread becomes positively irresistible toasted and slathered with peanut butter and topped with even more sliced banana and a few chopped walnuts.  

1 cup ripe banana, mashed (generous cup is fine - about 3 medium bananas)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup almond milk

2 Tbs ground flax meal
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
3 Tbs oil (we use avocado oil)
2 Tbs molasses (not blackstrap)
2 Tbs brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon (1 tsp is fine if you are a cinnamon fan!)
1/2 tsp salt (we go lower salt - 3/4 tsp will work as well if you prefer more salt) 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 Tbs turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350º.  

Mash bananas and add to a medium mixing bowl along with rolled oats, flax meal and almond milk.  Whisk to combine.  Add the maple syrup, oil, molasses, brown sugar and vanilla, whisking again to combine.

In a small bowl combine the all-purpose flour with the baking powder, cinnamon and salt - whisk to combine.

Add the flour bowl to the bananas mixture and stir 3 or 4 times.  Add the walnuts, then stir just until everything is barely incorporated.  Top with 1 Tbs turbinado sugar.

Place pan into preheated oven and bake about 50 minutes.  Check the bread at this point with a toothpick inserted into the center.  If the pick comes out clean and the bread is nicely browned remove from the oven.  Bread may take up to 10 minutes more baking depending on your oven and the moistness of the bananas.  

Remove from oven, turn bread out of pan and cool on a wire rack.  Enjoy!

Liv Life Note:  We made this bread this week and realized once we started mixing that we were out of oil.  The results??  No one knew the difference!  So if looking to go oil-free, it doesn't seem to be an issue.