Grain Free Chocolate Banana Bread & Date Caramel

Grain free chocolate banana bread is rich, moist, and fluffy and yet hella healthy. This gluten free/paleo bread is filled with cacao nibs and drizzled with a buttery, salted date caramel sauce that will send you into banana bread nirvana.

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I don’t know what can possibly convince you more that you need this grain free chocolate banana bread in your life than the photo above. Holy droolness! And I’m seriously not kidding when I say that it is so delicious and decadent, you won’t even realize it’s grain free, gluten free, naturally and modestly sweetened, and paleo. Like what?!

Bonus! It only uses 1/4 cup of alternative flour. And if you don’t care if it’s grain free or not, you can just as easily use good ole AP flour.

First, This caramel Sauce

I made this grain free chocolate banana bread four times before I settled on this recipe. And on it’s own, with a shmear of nut butter, it’s so delicious and fulfilling. But when you frost it with this salted date caramel sauce, it’s kinda insane. Mind blowing even. And guess what? There is not one drop of sweetener. No sugar, maple syrup, honey, cane sugar, monk fruit, stevia, coconut sugar, or whatever the cool kids are using to get their fix these days. This caramel sauce is made with four ingredients: dates, full fat coconut milk, salt, and vanilla.

The process is simple. You first blend the dates down into a paste in a food processor. Add a can of full fat coconut milk to the food processor and process until smooth and incorporated. Next, you strain the mixture through a mesh strainer to take any larger bits of date skin out. Add the sauce to a sauce pan with the salt and vanilla and cook down for 20 minutes, stirring frequently to caramelize all the natural sugars in the dates. The result is a smooth and creamy caramel sauce that even my mom was convinced was plain old caramel.

This caramel is a dream with this grain free chocolate banana bread but you could use it to frost a cake, cookies, or any sweet treat that needs a little something extra.

And now the grain free chocolate banana bread

Banana bread is pretty easy to make, right? First you cream the butter and sugar, then mash in the bananas, mix together all the dry ingredients, and then combine it all together. Could it be any easier? Um, yes!

You can make this grain free chocolate banana bread in your food processor or blender! So listen, you’re already going to need your food processor for the salted date caramel sauce. You’re going to have to wash it. Might as well use it to mix your banana bread. And when there is no gluten and no added fat in your banana bread, you can do just that. Toss in your ingredients, process until smooth, stir in some cacao nibs, pour into a loaf pan, and bake. Très simple.

This grain free banana bread is loaded with good stuff from hemp seeds to nut butter to maple syrup. And yet it remains so close to the banana bread we’ve grown up to know and love. Except mom never made it with cacao nibs and salted caramel sauce on top. Sorry mom!

Healthy holidays and always

I recently asked you folks over on my Instagram account which you’d rather see over the holidays: healthy sweets or savory treats. Well it was an exact 50/50 split. So look forward to a lot of everything as we move toward the New Year.

This grain free chocolate banana bread falls under the healthy sweet category and will be right at home next to your other fave holiday treats. Only, with a much less volatile sugar crash. Another awesome fact: you can eat grain free chocolate banana bread the whole freaking year round!

Happiest of Holidays to you from me, Stacy, here at POP KITCHEN!

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Recipe

Grain Free Chocolate Banana Bread & Date Caramel

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 4 eggs
• ⅓ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup coconut flour, almond flour, rice flour, GF flour mix, or all-purpose flour
• ½ cup nut butter such as almond butter, peanut butter, cashew butter or coconut butter
• ¼ cup hemp hearts
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 3 Tbsp cacao nibs or ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup dates, pitted
• 1 13.5 oz can full fat coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ¾ tsp sea salt
• Cooking spray, coconut oil, butter or ghee for greasing the pan
• Parchement paper
• 9x5 “ loaf pan

Instructions

1. BANANA BREAD: First, heat your oven to 350 F/180 C/4 gas. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray, coconut oil, butter, or ghee and line it with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor or blender (I prefer a food processor here because you already need one to make the date caramel), combine all of the ingredients for the banana bread except for the cacao nibs and blend until smooth. Measure 3 Tbsp of cacao nibs into your batter and stir with a spoon.
3. Pour the banana bread batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until just set. Place on a cooling rack for 15-20 minutes before removing.
4. SALTED DATE CARAMEL SAUCE: While your banana bread is baking, get your caramel sauce ready. Rinse out the food processor you just used, dry it off, and add in the dates (double check there are no pits!). Process the dates until it make a smooth paste. First it will form a ball. You want it to go past the ball stage until it has completely flattened out.
5. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the food processor bowl with a rubber spatula to get everything unstuck. Add a can of coconut milk and process again until it is smooth, golden brown, and has no lumps. Pour the date sauce through a fine mesh strainer and into a small sauce pan to remove any lumps (this step is optional).
6. Add vanilla and salt to the dates and place the pan on your stove over medium heat. Bring up to just a simmer and turn it down a bit so that it still maintains a simmer but is not bubbling out of control. Let the caramel sauce reduce for 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently, making sure to really scrape the bottom of any crystalized sugar. The sauce will become a deeper brown and thicken up a bit. If for some reason it gets too thick add a bit of coconut milk or half and half to thin it down again. Allow the caramel sauce to cool 10 minutes before pouring over the banana bread. Top the caramel with some course sea salt and cacao nibs. Store the banana bread in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 5-6 days.