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Browned Butter Banana Bread with Paleo Nutella Swirl

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I’m somewhat of a procrastinator in certain areas of my life.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to make lists and then check things off. A checked off list makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  But sometimes, I just want to sit on my couch and read a kindle book, instead of acting like a grown-up (aka, doing my chores).  This is especially true on Sunday afternoons after I’ve finished meal prepping for the week, but before the laundry is done and the pile of dishes from meal prep have been washed.

However, I would recommend not procrastinating in making this banana bread.

This recipe is based off of my recipe for Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Layered Bread with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts.  The addition of browned butter to this recipe adds another level of taste to an otherwise great recipe.  Browning butter is a technique that involves melting butter over medium to medium-high heat on the stove.  Heating butter after it melts results in the milk solids in the butter beginning to brown.  As the milk solids begin to brown, the butter gives off a nutty aroma.  The browned butter adds a nutty and slight butterscotch flavor to recipes.  I’ve added browned butter to several recipes, including cookies, sweet potatoes, and mashed cauliflower.

The addition of browned butter to this recipe for banana bread enhances the flavor of the walnuts, and adds a richness and depth to the overall taste of the bread.

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This banana bread is decadent, rich, and moist, and the combination of ingredients allows the flavors to combine to create a taste sensation sure to please a hungry crowd.

This banana bread would be great for a holiday party, or for Christmas breakfast/brunch.  Enjoy!

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Browned Butter Banana Bread with Paleo Nutella Swirl

Servings: makes 12-15

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1 cup banana, mashed (2-3 small overly ripe bananas)
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup Paleo Nutella
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup coconut flour (sifted)
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 tbs coconut oil (to grease the pan)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Preheat a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, add ½ cup of butter to the pan and allow the butter to melt.
  3. Stir the butter constantly in the sauce pan as it melts. After the butter has melted, it will begin to foam.  As the butter foams, the milk solids from the butter will begin to darken, turning first to a tan color, and then to brown as it continues to cook.  As the butter browns, it will give off a slightly nutty aroma.  As soon as the solids turn from tan to brown and give off the nutty aroma, remove the sauce pan from heat immediately so that the milk solids do not burn.  Set aside to cool.
  4. Grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch bread pan with coconut oil (you can also use butter), and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
  5. In a large mixing bowl, add almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt.  Stir to combine.  Set aside.
  6. In a separate bowl, add eggs, mashed banana, honey and vanilla extract.  Stir to combine.  Then add the browned and cooled butter, and stir to combine.
  7. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients, and stir the mixture thoroughly to incorporate.
  8. Let the batter sit on the counter for 3-4 minutes (this lets the coconut mixture soak up the moisture).
  9. Add Paleo Nutella to the batter, and gently swirl the Paleo Nutella through the bread batter using a spatula (do not fully incorporate the Paleo Nutella into the batter).
  10. Add the bread batter to the coated bread pan.
  11. Place the bread pan in the preheated oven and bake the bread for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.
  12. Once the bread is finished, remove from the oven and let cool on the counter for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the loaf of bread from the bread pan to cool further.
  13. Serve and enjoy!


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Epic Orange and Chocolate Date Balls of Awesomeness

Testing and creating new recipes is a passion of mine, a passion born of growing up as a picky eater, and learning to cook food that I enjoyed since my Mom had no plans to become a short order cook.  I’ve had multiple successes and failures in the kitchen, but for the most part the meals I create are enjoyed by both family and friends.  And since stumbling upon what I call the JERF movement (just eat real food), I strive to incorporate real, whole, unprocessed foods into my diet as much as possible.  But, please don’t think my diet is bland and boring.  Trust me, I don’t sit around eating steamed veggies and dry chicken every day, although I wish I could sit around eating bacon all day (but that’s just a wish my heart makes).  I want the meals I create to be both visually exciting and full of flavor.

One recipe in particular, involving date balls, gets rave reviews every time I whip a batch of these treats to share.  There are many date ball recipes floating around on the internet, and I am excited to add my own personal spin to on the standard date balls to the mix.

These date balls include the following ingredients:  dry roasted almonds, mejool dates, unsweetened shredded coconut, enjoy life chocolate chips, cocao nibs, vanilla extract, orange extract, sea salt, coconut oil, and Barney’s chocolate almond butter.

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After mixing the ingredients together (using the instructions detailed below) and shaping them into balls, you get these lovely things:

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The date balls are fine as is if you stopped at this part of the recipe, but if you enjoy coconut and want an added layer of flavor, you can roll the balls in a mixture of unsweetened coconut and cacao nibs to get these beauties:

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These treats are easy to make and fun to share.  If you create this recipe, I would love to hear what you think of them!

Epic Orange & Chocolate Date Balls of Awesomeness – recipe yields 15-20 date balls (depending on size)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup dry roasted and unsalted almonds
  • 20 medjool dates, pitted
  • 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (divided)
  • ½ cup enjoy life chocolate chips
  • 2 tsp coconut oil
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp orange extract
  • Zest from ½ orange
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ cup Barney’s chocolate almond butter
  • ¼ cup cocoa nibs

Instructions:

  1. Process almonds in a food processor until they look like crumbs (don’t process too long or it will turn into almond butter).   Empty almond crumbs into a separate bowl.
  2. Process the medjool dates until they are sticky and in small pieces.  It may form a ball in the food processor.  You’ll want to break this ball apart before the next step.
  3. Once you have processed the medjool dates, add back into the food processor the almond crumbs.  Then add in 1/2 a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut, vanilla extract, orange extract, orange zest, sea salt and chocolate almond butter.  Process the ingredients in the food processor until it looks like the ingredients start to stick together.  If the mixture is still crumbly, add more medjool dates, 2 or 3 at a time, until the mixture becomes sticky and you can form the dough into balls.
  4. Once the dough is ready, add the chocolate chips and use the pulse feature on your food processor until the chocolate chips have been incorporated into the mixture.
  5. Form the dough into  balls using 1 or 2 tbs for each ball (depending on how big you want them to be) and place the balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  6. Once you have finished forming the balls, add the remaining1/2 cup of shredded coconut and ¼ cup cacao nibs in the food process and process for 20-25 seconds.
  7. Lay out the shredded coconut/cacao nib mixture onto a plate and roll each date ball in the mixture.   Once each date ball has been coated, place them back on the parchment paper.  Repeat this step as necessary until you have used up all of the date ball mixture and coating.
  8. Refrigerate the date balls for 30 minutes or until you are ready to serve them (you can also freeze them, although you may want to defrost for 10 to 15 minutes before serving).

Notes :

  •  If you can’t find dry roasted unsalted almonds, you can roast 1 cup of raw almonds at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Let the almonds cool for about 10 minutes before moving on to the next step of the recipe.
  • If you have difficulty finding Barney’s chocolate almond butter, you can substitute with regular almond butter, or any other kind of nut butter you may prefer.
  • You can substitute cocoa butter for cacao nibs.
  • This recipe is great even without the orange extract/orange zest if you would prefer not to add it.