Below is a great recipe for a chocolate banana loaf, which can be made without dairy or gluten if you tweak the ingredients a little. This recipe also uses coconut sugar, which provides the sweetness, without such a spike in your blood sugar level. Below, we’ve used half coconut sugar and half another sugar of choice – but you can replace with 100% coconut sugar if you like!

Our coconut flour is a great high fibre and high protein gluten-free flour to use in baking. It has a sweet coconutty aroma. However, it’s highly absorbent, so make sure you add more liquid of flax egg while using. Alternatively, blend it with another gluten-free flour (like almond or buckwheat) to ensure lightness in the end product.

Ingredients

250g Gluten-free Flour (if using coconut flour, add more non-dairy milk to the recipe, as its highly absorbent)

120ml non-dairy milk

100g Coconut Sugar

100g Plain Sugar of your choice

42g Cocoa Powder (Unsweetened)

3 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1 handful of shredded coconut (optional)

4 Medium Ripe Bananas (400g peeled weight)

3 Tbsp Coconut Cooking Oil

1 Flax Egg (1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal with 3 Tbsp Hot Water)

175g Chocolate Chips (if you wish, use vegan chocolate chips for a completely vegan bake!)

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C and line a loaf tin with non-stick spray and parchment paper.

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, white sugar, baking

  powder and sea salt, then set it aside.

• In another bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork, then add the non-dairy milk and melted Coconut Oil to the mashed banana, and stir until combined.

• Prepare your ‘flax egg’ by adding 3 Tbsp hot water to 1 Tbsp of ground flaxseed meal into a

  bowl, and leave for a minute to become gloopy.

• Combine the wet and dry ingredients together, add the flax egg, and mix until the batter has a thick and even consistency.

• Fold ¾ of the chocolate chips into the mix.

• Pour batter into prepared loaf tin, smooth it down with the back of a spoon, and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips.

• Bake the loaf for 50 minutes or until the loaf bounces back when pressed. A knife that has been inserted into the loaf should come out clean (besides for all of that gooey, melted chocolate!)

• Set the pan on a wire cooling rack for around 15 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and allow to cool further.

• If you wish, add an optional sprinkle of shredded coconut to garnish.

• Cut into slices, serve warm and enjoy!