Gluten-Free Banana Bread

I woke up to a text from my roommate yesterday morning telling me, "I finished the banana bread. I am a monster." It was definitely one of the best compliments to my baking I've gotten in a while. 

I am being 100 percent honest when I say that this gluten-free and dairy-free banana bread is significantly better than any normal banana bread I've made. None of this it-tastes-almost-as-if-it-were-the-real-thing business. My go-to Smitten Kitchen's banana bread recipe is wonderful, but I have to say this one is significantly better.  (Admittedly, I just turned legal and always had to leave out the bourbon, so maybe I've been doing it wrong...)

It's been a while since I've gotten this excited about such a straight forward baking project (I had been planning on sharing this cool honeycomb candy but I couldn't hold back on this one). You see, the crumb and texture of this bread is beautiful. Wait, hold on...appreciate this for a moment: 

Especially take note of the bottom of the loaf. A lot of banana breads have what I call the bottom 1/3 problem. The loaf bakes up dense and moist, but the bottom fraction of the loaf actually becomes way too dense to the point that it is unpleasantly gummy. 

Not so with this banana bread recipe. I think baking with gluten-free flours can actually be an advantage for quick breads, since you don't want the gluten to develop for these recipes. The oil in place of butter also helps keep the banana bread from going dense as a doorstep. 

One of my roommates just got diagnosed with a gluten intolerance so you'll probably be seeing more gluten-free recipes around here. I still think the gluten-free health fad is silly (gluten-free does not mean healthy...we have quite. a few. really. unhealthy gluten-free recipes on this blog), but it is helpful for getting more gluten-free recipe ideas. (Packaged foods advertising to be gluten free are another story...some of them can still contain traces of gluten, which can be an issue for people who actually are allergic).

And of course, I'm always up for new baking challenge.

-Caroline

---

Gluten-Free Banana Bread

Yields: one 8x4 inch loaf
Click here for the printer-friendly recipe

Ingredients
2 eggs
⅓ cup packed brown sugar (you can increase this to ½ cup if you prefer a sweeter bread)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup almond flour
½ cup white rice flour
¼ cup brown rice flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 8 inch x 4 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil. 

Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in the mashed bananas, followed by the vegetable oil.

Whisk in the salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix in the almond flour, white and brown rice flours, and cornstarch. Fold in the toasted nuts, if using.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes, then turn out of the pan, and cool completely. 


Notes
Your bananas need to be very, very ripe to get the best results and best flavor for this bread. 

---

Related Posts

Banana Cream Pie

For my roommates and me, Pride and Prejudice is the ultimate girls' night movie. There's quite a few squeal-worthy moments: the first time Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth make eye contact, Kiera Knightly's witty "dah-ncing" comment she throws over her shoulder at Mr. Darcy, touching hands as he helps her into her carriage, the rain scene, their silhouettes nuzzling each other in the dawn, and of course, the "Mrs. Darcy" scene at the very end in the firelight. 

It's a beautifully romantic, with grand English landscape shots and glittering ballroom scenes, pepped with old-fashioned and quaint yet wonderful gestures of love. There's something about Regency England that inspires "Keep Calm and Find Mr. Darcy" posters (not that we had one hanging in our suite or anything) and makes you wonder if chivalry really is dead for good.

I'm quite found of this picture, really I am, yet I'm also glad I've spent most of this semester dismantling this ideal. My big final paper for my history and literature major this year was about The Odd Women by George Gissing. It's gritty and rather disillusioned, peppered with off-putting characters (and not of the cute Mrs. Bennet variety) and misogynist passages. The novel's title is an allusion to a population phenomena in 19th century Britain, in which women outnumbered men by a good half million. It traces the lives of a few of the "odd women" (also flatteringly referred to as "superfluous women") who could not be evenly paired off in marriage; they exist on the edge of destitution, unable to find a husband to support them and kept from finding a sustainable profession by society's gendered expectations.

The Odd Women reveals the darker under-story beneath the idyllic romance and independent, intelligent women in Pride and Prejudice. It is a portrait of the grim economic need behind Lizzy's and Jane's marriages and suggests an alternate reality, one of debasing and restrictive gender roles and shabby-genteel existences in one-room flats. The Odd Women reminds us that for all we want to laugh with the witty narrator at Mrs. Bennet's matchmaking, her fears for her daughters' futures are quite valid; marriage with Mr. Collins is a heck of a lot better than starving.

Yet Gissing's grim novel also contains an element of hope. Among the odd women are a pair of feminists who aim to improve women's education and expand their professional opportunities. One of them, Rhoda, tells her friend, "You had other examples before you...who live bravely and work hard and are proud of their place in  the world."

There's something rather heroic in those words, in this idea of living bravely, facing the world and the male-dominated professional sphere on your own, struggling as best as you can to make a living for yourself at a time when such a practice was completely against social mores. Lizzy Bennet might be free-thinking and skilled at verbal dueling, but it's these stern, no-nonsense feminist working women who are really heroines.  It's hardly as romantic as the Pride and Prejudice movie, yet its hopeful idealism against this grim backdrop is far more compelling. 

Which brings me to this banana cream pie. I have that Odd Women quote written on a post-it on my wall, right next to one with hastily scribbled instructions for banana cream pie. I made it some four months back, and it's become associated in my mind with essay writing; I baked this pie over Thanksgiving break, squeezed in between drafting final papers. I had originally planned to publish this recipe before Christmas, but my multiple Ireland papers just kept dragging on.

It's delicious, nostalgic, and comforting, reminiscent of that dessert made with instant pudding, bananas, and Nilla wafers, but made more classy. (Fact: everything looks fancier when it's in a tart crust.) I think it was worth the wait--and the papers.

-Caroline

---

Banana Cream Pie

Click here for the printer-friendly recipe.
Yields: one 9-inch pie
Loosely adapted from The Candid Appetite and Hummingbird High

Ingredients
For the Crust
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, very cold, cubed
¼ cup buttermilk, cold

For the Banana Cream Filling
1 ¾ cups whole milk
3 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium very ripe bananas
1 ½ cup cold heavy cream
½ powdered sugar

Directions
For the Crust
Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Add the butter. Using your hands or a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until it is in small pieces. Alternately, place the flour in a food processor, and the butter, and pulse until same result is achieved.

Mix in the buttermilk, one or two tablespoons at a time until the dough barely comes together.Gather the dough together in a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.

Roll out the dough into a circle, about 10-11 inches in diameter, depending on the size of your pan. When if you place the pie plate face-down on the dough, there should be about an inch of dough around the edge. Place the dough into the pie plate or tart tin, and trim and shape the edges. If you’re using a tart pan, Roll your rolling pin over the top to trim off the excess.

Freeze the pie crust for 30 minutes to an hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cover the pie with a piece of foil, and weigh it down with baking beans. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and beans, then bake for another 10 minutes, until the crust is golden brown around the edges. Let cool completely.

For the Filling
Heat the whole milk in a medium saucepan until it is just simmering.

In another bowl whisk the egg yolks and sugar until the yolks are pale and fluffy. Whisk in the cornstarch and salt.
Temper the egg yolks: slowly pour the milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly the whole time. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and heat until the mixture comes to a boil; let boil for 2-3 minutes, whisking constantly the whole time.

Take the cream off the heat and and stir in the butter, followed by the vanilla. Transfer to a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap, placing the plastic directly on the surface of the cream. Allow to cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Pour the heavy cream into a large mixing bowl and whisk until it forms soft peaks. Whisk in the powdered sugar. 

Fold about half of the whipped cream into the custard mixture. Set aside the other half.

Slice two the bananas into ¼ inch slices. Layer them on the bottom of the pie crust, spread half of the custard mixture on top, followed by another layer of bananas, and another of custard.

Slice and serve the pie, garnishing with the remaining whipped cream, and additional banana slices, if desired

---

Related Posts

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Cake

My brother and I were both born in the middle of winter, but we've long had a strange tradition of ordering ice cream cakes for our birthdays. I have a lot of fond memories of picking out ice cream flavors for my cake at near-empty shops as it snowed outside. (The local Maggie Moo's used to offer free scoops if more than an inch of snow had fallen.)

I've come to associate celebrations with not just cake, but specifically ice cream cake. It's not decadent if there's no ice cream.

I tried my hand at making an ice cream cake at home this year. It wasn't terribly hard, just fussy and requiring frequent trips to and from the freezer. The trickiest part was working quickly enough to keep everything from turning into a melty puddle.

I definitely recommend giving this one a try. Yes, now, in the middle of winter. There's something about making your on ice cream cake that makes you feel so accomplished. Maybe it's just from frantically shoving the cake into the freezer as cream begins to ooze down the sides.

The flavors of this cake is inspired by one of my brother's favorite ice cream flavors from Ben and Jerry's, Chunky Monkey, featuring banana ice cream, walnuts, and chocolate chunks.

You can, of course, swap in whatever ice cream flavors and add ins you want. A few notes, though, on ice cream cakes:

• The frosting: You'll need something that won't freeze solid, so don't use buttercream or whipped cream. Cream cheese works well, as does (forgive me for saying this) Cool Whip. Whatever fake milk thingy is in that stuff keeps it nice and fluffy even in the freezer.
• The cake layers: I've included makes a fairly thin cake (I've always liked a higher proportion of ice cream to cake), so it's a little hard to slice into layers. Here's a great tutorial on how to get even layers (unlike mine). You could also cut it into two layers instead of three, so that your top layer will be ice cream instead of cake. 
• The ice cream: you'll have an easier time spreading and slicing the ice cream if you use an airier one (or, in technical terms, an ice cream with higher overrun. Read all about that here.), such as Breyer's. Since Breyer's has some three times the air pumped into it than something like Haagen Dazs, it make the final cake much easier to slice through. But by all means, break out the premium ice cream if you'd like, you may just need to let it thaw a little bit before you spread it on the cake.

Good luck, and enjoy!
-Caroline

---

Chunky Monkey Ice Cream Cake

Yields: one 9-inch cake
Cake adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Click here for the printable recipe

Ingredients
For the Cake
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil*
¾ brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium bananas, very ripe, smashed
½ cup whole milk

For the Ice Cream
½ gallon vanilla ice cream**
1 medium banana, very ripe, mashed
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

For Assembly
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 medium banana, sliced

Notes
*Don’t use butter here. It’ll make the cake very hard when you freeze it.
**I’d recommend Breyers. It’s airier than most, so it’s easy to scoop, spread, and slice.

Directions
Read the entire recipe before getting started. But actually.

Make the chocolate cake. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until well-combined. Whisk in the oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Whisk in the milk.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch springform cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely, then refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.
The next day, cut the cake into three even layers. Re-assemble the springform pan. Line the sides with plastic wrap or wax paper for easy removal of the cake so you don’t have to saw the edges of the cakes later on. 

Place the top layer (the domed one) of the cake on the bottom of the cake pan. (You’ll spread a thick layer of ice cream on top of it so that this way, the top of the cake won’t be domed. Alternately, if you really want to make your layers even, cut off the dome before layering your cake.)

You’ll need to work quickly for this next part. Add about 4 cups of vanilla ice cream, half of the mashed banana, and half of the chocolate chips and walnuts to a mixing bowl. Mash them together with a wooden spoon. It doesn’t have to be perfect, its more important that the ice cream doesn’t melt. Spread the ice cream over the layer of cake at the bottom of the springform pan. Place the pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes, so that the layer of ice cream is firm.

Place another cake layer on top of the ice cream. Repeat the the step above with the remaining ice cream, banana, nuts, and chocolate chips. Top with the final cake layer. Freeze the cake for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Make the frosting. Whisk together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. 

Remove the cake from the springform pan. Spread the frosting over the cake, and decorate with banana slices. If the cake starts to melt while you’re frosting it, return it to the freezer for another 30 minutes.
Cut the cake with a sharp knife run under hot water, and serve!

---

Banana Cream Cake

This cake in many ways is an inspiration cake. This past summer, at a friend's dinner party in Evanston, I had my first taste of Magnolia Bakery's famous banana pudding, which was just simply amazing. I knew I had to go back to the bakery for more of this pudding (which is totally surprising because I'm usually not such a huge fan of pudding). So this banana pudding idea became implanted in my mind.

Still, however, I wasn't totally enamored by the idea of trying to recreate Magnolia's banana pudding just by itself. I wanted something with more umph power, so to speak. More like, cake power. And what could be better than cake? Cheesecake.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Specifically, banana cream cheesecake.

And then there's this vanilla cake recipe that looks so delicious I couldn't just give it up.

So banana pudding + banana cream cheesecake + vanilla cake = ...banana cream cake!

Really, the flavors and textures really came perfectly together in this cake. It's light, fluffy, and super satisfying. Hope you enjoy!

Love,
Monica

One year ago: Nutella-Swirled Banana Bread
Three months ago: Banana Bread Muffins
Nine months ago: Nutella Hand Pies

---

Banana Cream Cake

Adapted from All Recipes and Taste of Home   |   Time: 1 1/2 hour   |   Yield: 12 servings

For the Vanilla Cake

Ingredients
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup salted or unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.

THOROUGHLY cream butter & sugar for 5 - 10 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla and baking powder. Slowly add flour and milk in an alternating fashion. Batter should look like a yellow-ish Cool Whip.

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes. If making cupcakes, bake for 18 - 23 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch, or toothpick comes out clean.

For the Banana Cream Layer and Assembly

Ingredients
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 - 4 medium firm bananas, sliced
1 3/4 cup cold milk
3.4 ounces instant pudding mix (banana or vanilla flavor)

Directions

Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in 2 cup whipped topping. Arrange half of the banana slices on cake. Top with half of the cream cheese mixture. Place rest of bananas, then rest of cream cheese.

In a small bowl, use a whisk to combine milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let sit for 2 minutes until set. Fold in remaining whipped topping. pour over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate for 1 - 2 hours, or until set. Serve & enjoy!

---