noraeats

This is basically the best banana bread ever, just cooked to be more flat rather than in a loaf pan. You could totally bake it in a loaf pan if you wanted (baking time would be longer-45 minutes-1 hour). It’s so good, all the boys will love you, that’s why it’s called ‘boy bait.’

Topping this boy bait with a little sprinkle of cinnamon and brown sugar is pretty essential. It makes all the difference in the world. It allows you to save the best bite for last (i.e. the top of the bread).

Also, this doesn’t have to be vegan if you don’t care about consuming dairy. I often use kefir in place of a dairy-alternative yogurt. But whatever yogurt you choose, you need something with some sort of acidity to activate the baking soda. Although, you could replace baking soda with baking powder if you didn’t have an acidic activator.

sifted flour, salt and baking soda with ground flax

mashed banana

sugar, oil, kefir, vanilla extract. Mashed banana will be added here.

After gently mixing the dry ingredients into the wet, fold in the chocolate chips.

Remember to sprinkle the top with cinnamon and brown sugar before baking.

So delicious, yet so un-photogenic.

Instructions:

3 medium bananas, very ripe, fresh or frozen*

2 tablespoons ground flax (optional)**

1 ½ cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed

½ cup oil

½ cup vegan yogurt (but, I like to use kefir)

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)***

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. Line a 9”x13” pan with parchment paper and lightly oil. If you don’t have parchment paper, no worries, just add a little more oil to the pan to avoid sticking.
3. Defrost bananas, then mash them up with a fork.
4. Sift or whisk flour, salt, and baking soda, mix in 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed.
5. Whisk together the brown sugar, oil, yogurt (or kefir), and vanilla extract until combined. Then whisk in the mashed banana.
6. With a silicon spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Add the chocolate chips in the last few stirs. Lumps are okay, you don’t want to over mix.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top of the uncooked bread with cinnamon and brown sugar. Lick all remaining batter from the bowl (no eggs=no problem).
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes:

*the size of the bananas isn’t too important. I’d say anywhere from 1 ¼ cup to 2 cups mashed will work well. Obviously, the more banana, the more wet and gooey your boy bait will be. I generally always freeze my bananas once they reach their peak freshness.

**I love to add ground flax to my baked goods because it adds a lot of great fiber, lignans, omega-3 fatty acids and a bunch of other good stuff. You can’t taste it at all and it doesn’t affect the texture as long as you add it to the dry ingredients rather than the wet.

***You can add anything to this boy bait, next time I will add frozen blueberries. But today, I was in the mood for mini chocolate chips.

****Lastly, I plan to make this recipe more healthy by subbing applesauce for the oil and adding some whole wheat flour.

Edit: applesauce works as a sub for oil! Although there’s a little bit of flavor lost. Also, parchment paper is pretty unnecessary.