Vegan Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Bread

I will admit to you now that I am a shameless bargain hunter.

I can spot a sales tag from 500 yards. I know the retail seasons and what is on sale or clearance and when. Best of all, I’ve figured out when all the markdowns are at our local grocery store. Today, there were three carts of clearance from the organic section and last week, a whole cart of marked down organic bananas. It took all the patience I had to let them slowly brown on my kitchen counter, but last Saturday they were finally ready. I had enough for two projects, the first being this wonderful Vegan Banana Walnut Bread (with a little chocolate) and a Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake I made for my sweet friend Aurora’s birthday. But first, let’s get to the bread.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 mashed up ripe bananas
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I substituted applesauce)
• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix your wet ingredients: bananas, oil, soymilk, and brown sugar.

3. Mix your dry ingredients in a separate bowl: flours, baking powder,
baking soda, and spices.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet and blend thoroughly. Add walnuts and chocolate chips to batter.

5. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

6. Cool to room temperature and enjoy!

Yours will probably not turn out as short as ours. As a wedding gift we received a set of silicone bakeware that I love love love. However, the loaf pan is HUGE and it’s hard to make a normal tall loaf of bread without having to essentially double the recipe. Stay tuned for the Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake recipe this afternoon!