A Late Night PB + Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread Muffin Spectacular

So being home for the winter break these past two weeks has been pretty swell.

A break from school, a break from studying, a break from the hustle and bustle of life’s demands.

Well, apart from one minor demand. My father requested a dessert every night. A demand that shouldn’t really be called a demand, because I was happy to do it. I enjoyed making various concoctions each and every night and I enjoy baking and creating for those who I care about. Something new, something experimental. Something to fill the belly and stretch a smile.

And of course something delicious, how could I not be down to devour a new healthier treat each night? Silly, silly…

This one dessert in particular really stood out to me, thus creation of this recipe post. Perhaps it had to do with the fact it was almost all devoured at 1 am between me and my father, or maybe it was because this recipe was made several times over the course of a few days OR MAYBE because it was a vegan, gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip walnut banana bread.

Subjective, I suppose.

Digressing, classes start tomorrow. This break went by too quickly! I’m excited to start the semester, but at the same time I will miss just hangin’ around with my family and dog, steaming veggies, baking treats, and going canoeing. I suppose this recipe will serve to remind me forever of the lovely winter break I had, hopefully you can enjoy it too!

Banana bread is not banana bread to me without orange blossom honey, thus you’ll see it here. I’ve listed under the notes section options to make it completely vegan. I would actually even recommend using all honey or another type of liquid sweetener to make it extra moist.

The walnuts were wonderful and toasty. I topped my muffins with a walnut to get a nutty crunch, I do recommend.

Here’s the inside of a muffin. Not the best pic, but it does do it some justice on the texture :)

I made this twice as an 8×8 pan banana bread, but the third time I made muffins, which were my favorite by far. The most moistest and dense muffins! I’d recommend the muffins or maybe even a loaf pan would keep the bread nice and moist. Here’s what the b. bread looked like in the 8×8:

Makes: 12 big and dense muffins or 1 banana loaf

Ingredients:

Dry:

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup coconut palm sugar

2 tsp baking powder (gluten/sodium-free if possible)

1/2 tbsp arrowroot flour

few dashes of cinnamon and cloves

Wet:

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1-1.5 cup vanilla nutmilk**

2/3 cup peanut butter or any nut butter (no salt/sugar added)

1/4 raw orange blossom honey*

Add ins:

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

1/2 cup walnuts

Toppings:

unrefined/virgin coconut oil (def recommend!! Add once out of oven)

Notes:

*use maple or brown rice syrup to keep vegan. You may use any honey, or even use all of one type of sweetener (1 cup).

**If you don’t have vanilla non-dairy milk, any nut milk shall do. Feel free to add in 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract if prior statement applies.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (or wait till after mixing ingredients to save some electricity)

1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl

2. Combine all wet ingredients in another bowl

3. Incorporate the wet to the dry ingredients

4. Line a muffin pan with liners or some non-stick pan spray

5. Pour batter into pan and bake for about 25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

6. Transfer to cooling rack if applicable, if not just eat all 12 muffins now. Just kidding..Let cool a bit and serve warm with coconut oil for ultimate satisfaction.

These store great in the fridge. You can even pop ’em in the toaster oven to have that warm banana bread delight all over again.