High altitude gluten free chocolate peanut butter banana bread using unusual ingredients
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This recipe was made around 5000 feet in the high desert country during summer, the wonderful and amazing swamp cooler was creating great moisture in the house that really helped to have less adjustment.
Since high altitude baking has it own unique challenges and many attempts to find the right balance. This recipe turned out great the first time, as always keeping a pen and paper handy I wrote down everything as I concocted this recipe.
There will often be an adjustment as well for moist air, high humidity or dry air depending on where you live or who you might be visiting.
What's left in the kitchen
When I go stay with a friend I just have to look through the cupboards, I can't help myself. They might food that will end up in the trash or sit in the cupboard for ever and ever. Well this particular friend had some bananas going over ripe and a lot of stuff not being used at all. After digging around and looking into my traveling picnic basket I felt I had enough ingredients to make a gluten free chocolate peanut butter bread. Yum yum yum, I hope!
A poll
Do you experiment with unusual ingredients?
Ingredients I have to work with
Utensils needed
1. Mixing bowls 1 large
2. Mixer
3. Meatloaf or loaf baking pans
4. Measuring cups and spoons
5. Oven style pan I used cast iron
6. 2 soup or cereal bowls
7. Mixing spoons
8. Rubber spatula
Makes 5 of this size loaves
What I found to use
- 4 cups Oat flour
- 4 cups Coconut flour
- 2 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- 2 cups Sugar
- 1 cup Honey
- 1 cup or 2 sticks Butter, Very soft
- 6 each Bananas, Very ripe
- 8 each Eggs, Whole
- 6 cups Honey yogurt, 1 large tub
- 4 tsp Vanilla, Extract
- 4 tsp Cinnamon, Ground
- 1 tsp Nutmeg, Ground
- 9 TBL Chocolate protein powder
- 6 TBL Hot chocolate powder
- 9 TBL Peanut butter powder
- 1 cup Tap water
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- 2 tsp Cayenne pepper, Ground
- 1 cup Walnuts, Chopped fine
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is heating slice up your over ripe bananas into a oven friendly pan. I used a cast iron pan, I love cast iron but any oven pan will do. Once all the bananas are in the pan place them in the oven for 10 to 20 minutes stirring at least twice in the process. This will caramelize the bananas and bring out their sugars.
Before
After
Used a bowl first
Ninja
This is how I did it
- Slice and caramelize the bananas
- Mix these dry ingredients together, oat flour, coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, Cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper, chocolate protein powder
- Add the eggs, vanilla, softened butter, yogurt, honey
- Add the caramelized bananas
- Mix with a mixer until thoroughly blended. I was lucky my friend had a ninja blender
- Adjust the batter with the cup of water, I did use the whole cup to get the right consistently for the batter with the altitude and high desert dry air
- In 2 separate bowls mix the hot chocolate powder and peanut butter powder with water
- Place the mix in the Meatloaf or bread pan fill halfway. I did rub butter all through the baking pan to prevent sticking and for easy removal. It also adds more flavor. I love butter!
- Sprinkle in the walnuts add some peanut butter and hot chocolate mix pour in more batter repeat with the above steps
- Bake at 350 degrees on middle rack for 1 hour, check the center of the loaf with a clean knife before removing for oven
- Allow to cool remove from pan slice and eat
Before baking
I do use the powdered peanut butter simply because it travels well. Although I do really also like it's flavor and that it has fewer calories. But since you may not have any of this is your kitchen cupboard then use regular peanut butter and pull it through your batter with cold hot chocolate mix.
I do wish my friend had more than one pan for baking, but I used what I had and so the baking process took a few hours with each loaf taking an hour. A cupcake tin would have made for some really great individual muffins, but alas did not find one of those in the kitchen either.
Of course anyone can adjust the recipe for a lesser amount. I adjusted this one to fit the amount of bananas on hand going over ripe. The idea is to use what you have, the above ingredients are what I had.
Explore, get creative, rummage and bake. It might always turn out, this one did. Spread on the butter, dribble some honey, have it with your coffee or a piece for dessert.
Luckily I had 2 people ask for a loaf to go home with or my friend and I might have eaten every single loaf.
It turned out to be delicious and tasty.
Have you used what you have and gotten creative?
