Hi, I’m Shannon, and I’m an almond-holic.

When other people are sneakily shoveling spoonfuls out of a pint of ice cream, I’m doing the same thing but with a jar of almond butter. I LOVE almond butter. Therefore, I thought it was appropriate that I make an almond butter banana bread.

I found that the almond butter added a really nice texture to this banana bread. Since I like to curve my sugar cravings with non-processed sugar treats, you might find that this recipe isn’t sweet enough for you. So feel free to add more sweetener to your liking. I honestly don’t think it needs it, especially if you have a good helping of cinnamon. I use monk fruit sweetener, which comes from fruit in the highlands of Asia. I’ve heard it’s the best natural sweetener out there.

Due to the flax seed eggs, buckwheat flour, and almonds, this recipe is packed with protein. It’s a great way to start your morning, or serves as a super yummy snack to keep your energy levels going during the day. I love using buckwheat flour because it’s gluten free and high in fiber. Cinnamon is a secretly awesome ingredient, as it is high in antioxidants, has a powerful anti-diabetic effect, may reduce risk of heart disease, and has anti-inflammatory properties. This is what I call a guilt-free treat!

Ingredients

• 3 bananas
• 2 flax eggs (instructions below)
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp sweetener (I suggest monk fruit sweetener!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 350°F.
2. Make your flax eggs. First, grind up flax seeds in a coffee bean grinder. [You can store the extra ground flax seeds in a container in the fridge.] For each flax egg, it’s one tablespoon of ground flax seeds and three tablespoons of warm water. Whisk this together until the mixture becomes gel-like. Since you need two flax seed eggs for this recipe, go ahead and mix two tablespoons of ground flax seeds and six tablespoons of warm water.
3. Mix your wet ingredients in a bowl. Begin with mashing the bananas, then add in the flax eggs and almond butter.
4. Mix your remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
5. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until the mixture becomes doughy. Oil a bread pan with coconut oil, then empty your dough into the pan.
6. Bake for about 28 to 30 minutes. Check on your bread, as ovens vary.
7. Option to drizzle almond butter on your fresh-out-of-the-oven bread (I recommend it!) and sprinkle chopped almonds.
8. Enjoy some yumminess!