Yes, we said for breakfast, not dessert. This morning we basically did the happy dance while eating this dreamy banana bread. With half the calories, this delicious homemade bread serves as breakfast OR dessert. It has loads of flavor and is sweetened with maple syrup, making it refined sugar-free.

The delightful aroma will fill your house and remind you of how your grandma used to bake. Eat it plain, add chopped walnuts, add chocolate chips, warm it, toast it, but most of all—ENJOY it!

Banana Bread is a great family recipe because it can be customized to everyone’s liking. If your kiddos love chocolate but you love nuts, top half the loaf with chocolate shavings and the other half with crushed walnuts.

When substituting oat flour in a recipe, you’ll get the best results if:

1. The recipe includes eggs, which help provide structure and bind all the ingredients together.
2. You swap the oat flour with an equal amount of the flour of your choice by weight, not by volume. A kitchen scale is the best way to do this. Why? Oat flour is notably lighter than all-purpose and whole-wheat flour (oat flour weighs 89 grams per cup, while white whole-wheat flour hits the scale at 135 grams per cup.). If you exchange various flours at a 1:1 ratio in a recipe, you might end up with a problem. Either your baked goods won’t rise enough, or you’ll end up with something way too dense. It’s a delicate balance! Here is the scale we use.
   1. In this Banana Bread recipe, the instructions call for 2 cups of oat flour, which weighs 178 grams. If you’re switching to a different type of flour, make sure to use a scale and measure out 178 grams of flour.
   2. Let’s say you’re opting for white whole-wheat flour (which works well). In this case, you’ll measure out 178 grams, which is less than 2 cups, as each cup of oat flour is roughly equivalent to 3/4 cup of whole-wheat flour.

Brown, overripe bananas are used in banana bread because they’re naturally sweeter, making them perfect for muffins. In the ripening process, the starches in the banana begin to convert to sugar. So don’t throw away those bananas with brown spots. As long as they’re not moldy, there’s no such thing as too-ripe bananas for banana bread.

If you have overripe bananas and aren’t ready to use them, toss them in a Ziploc bag with the peel on and freeze them for later. When you’re ready to use them, thaw them completely at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight. Frozen bananas tend to release more moisture, so you’ll need to peel them and then lightly pat them dry with paper towels to remove excess liquid.

1. Use a fork to mash pieces of bananas until soft.
2. Use a potato masher to mash banana until soft.
3. Put them in a Ziploc bag and squish them to desired consistency.
4. Add chunks of banana to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat to desired consistency.

If you frequent FULLforLife, you know we’re a huge fan of batch cooking whenever possible. At this point, we make double batches of 75 percent of our meals to simplify the weeks to come. While the ingredients are out and the dishes are dirty, why not make more to freeze for future breakfasts, snacks and desserts? This Banana Bread is no different.

You can freeze the entire loaf or freeze it in slices for up to 3 months. We like to slice it into individual slices before freezing so that we can defrost them one at a time. Try it!

• Reheat a slice in the toaster oven and top it with a little butter and a pinch of flakey sea salt.
• For extra protein and fiber:
  • Slather a slice with a tablespoon of almond butter and top with fresh berries.
  • Top with a dollop of Greek yogurt, pepitas and berries.

If you’re looking for the convenience of muffins, check out our Maple-Sweetened Banana Muffins recipes.

• Double Chocolate Banana Muffins (Guilt-Free)
• Bakery-Style Pumpkin Spice Muffins (Dairy & Gluten-Free)
• Bakery-Style Blueberry Apple Muffins
• Clean Eating Carrot Cake Cookies
• Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Chickpea Ganache Frosting (Dairy-Free)

If you make this Banana Bread, we would love to hear how it turned out! Leave a comment below sharing what your family thought of it. We love hearing from you and your ideas inspire us all! Don’t forget to tag @fullforlifegal on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! 🌟