Banana Nut Bread (GF, Vegan)

Yes, I'm alive and still randomly posting recipes on here, promise!
I am always in the kitchen creating stuff, but for me, it's a matter 1st writing the recipe down and taking a picture of it. Once those 2 things happen THEN I have to actually log in and type it all out. Such a chore. :0 haha.

When I was a kid I LOOOOOOVED when my mom or grandma would make banana nut bread. Funny thing is, my grandma was always trying to make stuff healthier. She would sub out apple sauce for oil, put less sugar in things, etc. We would be excited to eat something then bite into it and pull a face, like "ewww what's wrong with this?". Wasn't ever the case with banana nut bread. My family finds it funny now that I am the healthy one trying to sub stuff out all the time and may have been one of the biggest complainers about her doing it. Interesting how things turn out.

So, don't mind my camera phone pictures! I lost my camera, yet again, so this is what we get to deal with. Don't let it ruin your idea of the recipe though, because it really is great!!

 

Makes 1 loaf

4 medium bananas, mashed (leave a good amount of smallish chunks)
3 teaspoons egg replacer, in 4 tablespoons hot water (non-vegan can use 2 eggs)
1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1 1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 1/2 cup Gluten Free flour (I used Bob's Redmill)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F

In a tiny bowl combine egg replacer and hot water, mix and allow to sit for about 5 min while you prepare the banana mixture.

In a large bowl, peel & add bananas. (You can mash them with a masher, a fork or do it like I did; with my fingers when I peeled the bananas) Next add the coconut oil, coconut sugar & vanilla. Stir until combined, mashing some as well. Add the egg substitute mixture.

Now add dry ingredients except for the nuts & chocolate chips. I make sure that the flour is the last ingredient measured out and added, then mix with a spoon by hand. After completely combined, then add in nuts & chocolate chips.

Grease a 9 inch bread/load pan & add batter. Cook for 45-55 min.

My oven tends to need to cook longer than others (gas oven, plus at sea level) and I baked mine at 55 min. (The batch I made & is in the pics, I prob should have taken out at 53 min)
You could easily make this into muffins, I don't know exactly how long the cook time would be though, I'm guessing somewhere around 25 min. 

Buckwheat Graham Crackers (GF, Vegan)

Seriously great graham crackers, if you like graham crackers. When I was little I used to have graham crackers with all sorts of things, like; peanut butter, frosting or apple sauce. I wouldn't eat it with the same kind of frosting on it today, but I still love them with any sort of smooth topping like that. These ones I made though to use for a graham cracker crust for a pie. Figured if I was going to make a pie, may as well make all of it from ingredients I like, right?

I edited this recipe from Nativas buckwheat graham cracker recipe.

36, 4 inch crackers

1/4 c flax seed, ground
1/2 c coconut sugar
3 TBS sucanat or turbinado sugar
*1 TBS maca (Optional, but recommended)
1/4 c coconut oil
*5 drops vanilla stevia, optional
2 cups buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/4 c agave nectar
2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Optional: Sugar mixed with cinnamon for topping

Directions
Mix together all dry ingredients. Then add in the the wet ingredients, and mix together with a mixer until a dough ball is formed. If the dough is too dry you can add a little more almond milk, one tsp at a time. Dough will be kind of sticky.
Heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Put half of the chilled dough on a large piece of parchment paper then put a second piece of parchment paper on top, then use a rolling pin to flatten it out – about 1/8 inch thick. Place on a baking sheet, and carefully remove top layer of parchment. Using a butter knife, cut the dough into rectangles then use a fork to make those necessary graham cracker holes. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, if using. After first batch is done, repeat with second dough half or do at the same time and place on a second baking sheet. Bake crackers for 22-25 minutes or until dried out but not burned.
Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes, then place crackers on a wire rack to finish cooling and become crisper. They will stay good in an airtight container for about 2 weeks, if they stay around that long.

Lemon Sugar Cookies (vegan)

This is not my typical recipe, but I had a request from a friend to make lemon sugar cookies. So I made them vegan, and switched out stuff to be better versions of themselves if they were already vegan. However, not as quite as healthy as my usual things.  That said... these are soooooo good! I don't even know what to say about them other than, wow, I'm really glad that I was asked to make them. (I had never tried lemon sugar cookies before) Make sure to actually keep enough dough to cook some cookies, rather than just eating the dough!! They expand out while cooking, so make sure to space them well.

yum!!!

cookies rolled out and additional lemon-sugar over the top

The lemon sugar

finished cooking, they expand for sure!

Makes 36 cookies

1/2 cup turbinado sugar (or coconut sugar OR preferred dry sweetener), ground down to a fine powder
1 1/2 turbinado sugar (or preferred {recommended dry} sweetener), ground down to a fine-med powder
2 large lemons zested
1 cup vegan butter, (I used Earth Balance, soy free kind) or coconut oil at room temperature or slightly melted
2 tbs flax seed, ground
6 tbs warm water
2 tsp lemon extract
1 tbs lemon juice (from the freshly zested lemon)
2 3/4 cup whole spelt flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda

First ground down flax in a coffee grinder then put into a little bowl with the 6 tbs of warm, mix and allow to sit for about 5-10 min.

Next make lemon sugar: Grind 1/2 cup sugar in coffee grinder, blender or food processor to make it a powder. Now add 1 teaspoon lemon zest into whatever you blended the sugar in, and grind/blend again. Pulse until lemon zest is fully mixed into sugar. Pour into a little bowl and get rid of any clumps then set aside.

Now mix flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda in a medium bowl. In another bigger bowl, cream butter with the other 1 1/2 cups sugar. Blend in the flax mixture, slowly. Add lemon extract, lemon juice and the rest of the lemon zest. Take the flour mixture and blend in, one cup at a time, making sure it's fully, until all flour is incorporated.

Chill the dough for about an 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls then roll in the lemon sugar. Put the lemon-sugar coated balls onto a greased cookie sheet. Press down with the bottom of a glass or plate until cookie is about 1/3 inch thick. They will expand, so make sure to separate them well. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes. Let cookie cool on the pan for 5 minutes before taking them off the sheet and putting them on a cooling rack.

Almond Five-Spice Snaps (Vegan)

A lot like ginger snaps, but a few other spices in the mix and the ginger is much more down played. I believe they would be enjoyed by people who like ginger snaps, as well as those who don't. They make awesome ice cream sandwich ends!

I made a few minor changes to this recipe that I got from "Eat, Drink and Be Vegan". So, thanks Dreena Burton!

Makes 12-15 cookies

1 C spelt flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 C sucanat (or turbinano sugar, or other unrefined sugar)
2 Tbs chopped almonds
1/4 tsp RealSalt
1 1/2 tsp five-spice powder (*What's in five-spice?  Also called chinese 5-spice powder)
1/3 C agave nectar
3/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 C olive oil
1-2 TBS sucanat

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together wet ingredients until well mixed. Add wet mixture to dry, and stir until combined well, but don't over mix. Mixture will be semidry. Put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and scoop tablespoon size balls onto it.  After all balls are laid out, press each down slightly and add sprinkle of sugar. Bake for 10 min then remove from the oven and let sit for about 1 min, then transfer to a cooling rack. If you leave the cookies in longer than 10 min, they will get dry.