Gluten-Free Cranberry Banana Nut Bread

Cranberry Banana Nut Bread to Satisfy a Gluten Allergy

You Won’t Know it’s Gluten Free

It is such a challenge to find bread that is GLUTEN FREE and doesn’t tell you by the way it tastes. Well the following recipe is so worthwhile because, well because it’s delicious! In our home my daughter was found allergic to glutens two years ago at the start of fifth grade. The symptoms in her case are heavy congestion, dizziness upon exertion, and growth inhabitation, (could be a coincidence but when we took her off gluten she grew like a week.) So if your gluten intolerance is more sensitive than this please consult your doctor before trying this recipe, thank you.

The following is a revision of a recipe found in one of the best cook books on the planet, called The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. The people at America’s Test Kitchen have put their life’s fervent work in a red binder for our consumption and dining enjoyment. The compilation holds over 1,200 kitchen-tested recipes no-nonsense equipment and ingredient ratings [like who makes the best heatproof rubber spatulas or the best tasting Peanut Butter], tips [like roasting your unripe bananas at 350 for twenty minutes for a speedy ripe fix,] and shortcuts [like a buttermilk substitute.] I have eaten so much better since I’ve owned this one cookbook alone. However, while their recipes yield some of the tastiest and most delicious food you will be proud to eat, proud because you made it, they don’t offer a Gluten Free version in the many baking projects included. So for the sake of my daughter’s pallet I found this adaptation to be most satisfying.

Finding a Gluten Free flour substitute that tastes close to what we are used to eating has been a challenge. There are so many products like coconut flour, rice flour, corn flour, almond flour, and you get the idea. Anyway after trying many we find that Pamela’s Products All Natural Wheat-Free & Gluten-Free Baking & Pancake Mix works well in pancakes, waffles, muffins, and Cranberry Banana Nut Breads!

Ocean Spray Craisins—sweetened dried cranberries are a great variation to banana nut bread because it adds another layer of flavor. In this recipe I soak one half cup of the dried cranberries to soften the fruit and add moisture. Thanks for trying this, and let me know how it went!

It’s worth keeping ripe bananas in the freezer so you can make this Cranberry Banana Nut Bread whenever you’re ready—it’s that good!

Cranberry Banana Nut Bread

• 2 Cups Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix
  
• ¾ Cups Sugar
  
• ½ Teaspoon Salt
  
• ¾ Teaspoon Baking Soda
  
• 3 Ripe Bananas [This is the key ingredient]
  
• 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
  
• ½ Cup Ocean Spray Craisens Sweetened Dried Cranberries, Soaked to 1 Cup
  
• 5 Tablespoons Butter (salted, unsalted—your choice) Melted
  
• 2 Large Eggs
  
• 1/4 Cup Vanilla Yogurt
  
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Ready? Set the oven at 350 and Go get two bowls for mixing.

• In one bowl mix all the dry ingredients; Pamela’s Baking Mix, sugar, salt, baking soda, walnuts, drained cranberries.
  
• In the second bowl mix eggs, butter, mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla extract.
  
• Now combine the dry and wet ingredients and scrape the batter into a prepared 9x5 inch loaf pan. Bake until golden brown and the toothpick test passes (stick a toothpick into the middle of the loaf; if it comes out clean it’s done,) about fifty-five minutes.