I am so excited to share my Giraffe Bread recipe! SO excited!!
I've been making banana breads for years and had gone through a few different recipes until I felt I had the perfect go-to recipe. Then I thought about incorporating chocolate into the recipe...and Giraffe Bread was born. My oldest son gave the bread this name when he was about 10 years old when he saw the slices. Understandably, the name Giraffe Bread holds personal significance, and the bread also became a favorite with the boys.
Then...
We started moving towards gluten-free and that changed everything. Trying to find a way to create Giraffe Bread without regular wheat flour became a challenge, and it wasn't without trying. Add on the desire to reduce or eliminate refined sugar and I was facing a huge uphill battle. I tried gluten-free flour mixes, I tried flourless recipes, I used honey...but nothing really resulted in the right flavor, look, or texture.
Until NOW!! (Cue the trumpets and confetti!)
This Gluten-Free Banana Giraffe Bread is moist, banana-y, has a great texture, and tastes awesome. The boys were so happy when they tried this, they said I had to add it to the blog! So here I am, sharing it with you!
The recipe uses several bananas, so make sure you have a good few on hand. As stated in the recipe below, the total weight of the bananas (minus peel, of course), is more important than the number of bananas. Otherwise, you won't achieve the right moistness, sweetness, or flavor in the bread. And what good is banana bread if it doesn't taste like bananas?? The bananas also give the bread its sweetness because, if you haven't noticed, there is no sugar, honey maple syrup, nothing.
And the chocolate...well, who can say no to chocolate? I never knew that blobs of chocolate could make bread so much fun. Did you??
Obviously, this Giraffe Bread makes for a great after school snack. It's also a nice treat in the school lunch box. A hot cup of tea or coffee is the perfect companion, and it is also a great breakfast option.
Isn't this fun? Have a bunch of bananas you need to use? I hope my enthusiasm is motivating you to get into the kitchen to try this for yourself. Leave your comments below!
Gluten-Free Giraffe Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 5-6 (575g) ripe bananas (the weight is more important than the number of bananas)
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup almond butter
- 4 tbs Butter melted
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Pinch Sea salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 deg F (180C).
- Combine bananas, almond butter, eggs, and melted butter in a blender and mix well.
- Add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and sea salt to the banana mixture in the blender; mix well.
- Melt chocolate chips in the microwave oven for 1 minutes; stir. Microwave for an additional 15 seconds at a time until chips are completely melted.
- Add 2 cups of the banana bread batter to the melted chocolate chips and stir well to combine.
- In a parchment lined loaf pan, add a few blobs of chocolate mixture, then cover with some of the banana batter. Repeat, varying the areas where you spoon the chocolate batter.
- Bake for 55-60 minutes, testing for doneness with a tootpick.
- Let rest 10 minutes before lifting the bread out of the pan to cool completely on a rack. Let cool at least 2 hours before slicing.
Notes
Sandra
Hi Lisa, (need step3+ add wet to dry.)
But real question? Can I freeze?
I’m wanting to do this Agra’s of time but thinking it may not defrost well??
I amended step 3 in the instructions as I didn't make it clear to add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients already in the blender. Thanks for pointing that out. I have not tried freezing this bread, but I can't see why it wouldn't work. You could try making half a recipe to test it. Thanks for your question, Sandra!