Dark Chocolate Avocado Banana Bread

I have to admit, when I first started baking after I had transitioned to a plant based diet, I was nervous! Every single thing I had baked up until that point had some sort of either egg or dairy in it and I was afraid that the substitutes would either fail completely or leave me with a lack lustre dish and the feeling that something was missing.

 I. was. so. wrong. 

The longer I lead this lifestyle the easier and easier it becomes to veganize all my favourite foods. I'm able to still enjoy all of the indulgent flavours with the added benefits of sustainable-for-the-planet  plant powered nutrients and none of the cruelty that comes with animal based ingredients. Win, Win, Win. 

As you can see from a few of my other recipes , my go to for an egg replacement is usually a ground flax egg. On the day of this beautiful banana bread's creation ( what a wonderful day it was!) , I discovered that I was out of flax! So this time I used a chia egg, and it worked really great just the same. To make a chia egg, take 1 tbsp of chia seeds ( or ground chia powder) and add 2.5 tbsp of water. Let it sit until it thickens. ( I doubled it for this particular recipe)

This Banana bread turned out so fudgy and moist from the avocado and was the perfect amount of sweet. I felt so good feeding it to the whole family because it was not only delicious ( less chance of it getting thrown at me by one sometimes fussy toddler) but also packed full of nutrients. To top it all off, it was SO easy to make since most of the process required just throwing everything into a food processor or blender and then into the oven. Making clean up a total breeze!

Ingredients

1 cup avocado

4 large ripe bananas

2 chia eggs 

2 cups spelt flour

2 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup raw cane sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup pure dark choc. chips 

1. Preheat oven to 350, grease the baking pan. ( I used a round pan for this recipe but feel free to use a bread loaf pan or even a brownie pan.) Make chia egg and set aside to thicken.

2. In a high powered blender or food processor, add the avocado, chia egg, vanilla and bananas. Process until smooth. 

3. Add in flour, cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Pulse until the batter is smooth. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides and make sure that everything mixes well together.

4. Pour the batter into the greased pan and sprinkle surface with the chocolate chips. Bake for 45-50 minutes. When the bread is done, a toothpick inserted into it should come out clean other than any melted chocolate that may have gotten on it. Allow bread to cool for approx 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!