My Favourite Banana Bread Recipe

 This is my favourite banana bread recipe, from the Post Punk Kitchen site:

http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=121

One of my old housemates used to bake all the time, and she made a really great banana bread. But it had eggs and alcohol in it, which made it seem a bit decadent for a Saturday morning. You also had to gently simmer apple juice on the stove to cook the sultanas and it all got a little labour intensive.

I like this recipe because it uses ingredients I always have in the house, including a number of bananas going past their best. I try and make my baking vegan, as I like the challenge, plus I still have aspirations of kicking my dairy habit. I have also eaten a lot of disappointing vegan cake over the years, so want to build up a box of tried and trusted recipes to restore people's faith in vegan baking.


I've always made the recipe in a large loaf tin until now, but I recently came across these mini loaf tins and thought they would be adorable for making lots of mini versions of whatever I was making. The batch actually made eight mini loaves, six of which are pictured here, with each loaf about the size of a small muffin/generous cupcake. (The other two of them were eaten before taking the photograph).

Delicious hot or cold, with peanut butter or chocolate spread, or just by itself delicious.

Vegan, gluten-free browie recipe.

I'm going to a vegan potluck dinner tonight, and so I decided to make chocolate brownies.  I have a tried and tested recipe from "Another Dinner is Possible" and they are one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten.

BUT they use flour, so I started wondering if I could make a gluten-free version. (A usually unseen competitive edge comes out of me when cooking for other people, and as I seem to move in circles where multiple food preferences/intolerances are commonplace a 'vegan plus gluten-free' recipe will be a good one to have under my belt. I also hate it when vegan cake tastes less satisfying than cake using dairy, so this shouldn't be a problem here.)

So this is the version I made, with significant inspiration from both ADIP and the now-defunct "nosh ninjas" website. You do have to pre-soak the beans overnight and also cook them before using them in this recipe, but I do this in batches and then freeze them in usable portions so it's not too much of a faff.

Topping:
4tbsp cocoa
4tbsp soy milk
60g margerine
160g brown sugar
1tsp vanilla essence

Main Brownie:
100g margerine
100g cocoa
100g white sugar
100g brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Egg replacer equivalent to 2 eggs
200g cooked haricot beans (but black beans work too)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup chopped walnuts OR 50g chocolate chopped up (optional)


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c, and grease an 8inch x 8inch tin. Only grease the base, as this will help the mixture climb the sides

2. Make topping: melt margerine in a saucepan with cocoa, sugar and soya milk. Slowly bring to the boil, then simmer for a minute (stirring well).  Take off the heat and transfer to a boll, then beat it with a fork for ten minutes to help it cool and thicken. Add vanilla essence.

3. To make the main brownie part: Melt the margerine in a saucepan. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the cocoa, white sugar, brown sugar and salt. Pour the melted margerine over this mixture and stir together.

4. In a food processor (or with a potato masher) puree the beans with the egg replacer and vanilla essence.

5. Add the bean mixture to the chocolate  mixture, along with the baking powder, and mix well. Stir in the walnuts/chocolate chips.

6. Transfer the mixture into the greased tin and spread out with a spatula. Then pour the topping on top. Cook for 40 minutes. A knitting needle inserted in the middle should come out with only a few moist crumbs (unless you hit a melted chocolate chip - there's some guesswork involved!)

7. Wait for it to cool down, then cut into squares.

I use "no-egg" as an egg replacer, but I have read about flaxseeds making a nifty substitute. My friend Swithun adds vegetable oil in place of eggs to veganize recipes, and apparently bananas can also work.
I also think this might be nice with a pinch of chilli powder or cayenne pepper. It's pretty heavy on sugar, but I don't think you can really get away from that when making brownies.