Vegan gluten free banana bread with vanilla glaze

Who has their shopping all done??? Not me!!  Well, I'm in good shape, but still have a number of little things to pick up and remember to do....and bake of course.  I had the family Christmas photos done....but haven't made the cards yet.  I tell myself every year that "this year will be different" and I will get it all done earlier.  Oh well. 

The temps have dropped, the snow has fallen and 'tis the season for cozy recipes.  Banana bread is one of the first things I think of when winter sets in and my kids love it.  It makes a super quick breakfast for school mornings so I regularly fill my freezer with bananas just as they turn over ripe to wait for an extra few minutes for some baking time.  I also find banana bread to be an incredibly versatile recipe with many options to accommodate tastes and preferences.  I've made whole wheat banana bread, banana bread with chocolate chips, oatmeal banana bread, refined sugar free banana bread, grain free and the list can go on and on.

Today's version of the classic banana bread is a vegan, gluten free recipe sweetened with a vanilla glaze that adds just a hint of that dessert feeling to make it worthy of a holiday brunch.

Vegan Gluten Free Banana Bread
(makes 1 loaf- approx. 6-8 servings)

Ingredients for the Bread
-1 1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF flour)
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/4 tsp salt
-1 TBS cinnamon
-1 tsp nutmeg
-3 TBS flax meal
-3 TBS water
​-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1/4 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 over ripe bananas (plus extra slices for garnish if you like)

Ingredients for the Glaze
- 1 cup confectionary sugar
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-2-3 TBS unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a loaf pan with non-stick plant based cooking spray.  In a small bowl, stir together the flax meal and water.  Set aside for a few minutes to thicken (this flax egg recipe is adapted from the Minimalist Baker).  In a large bowl, stir together your gluten free flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.  Using a high powered blender, place the following ingredients in the blender in this order: the overly ripe bananas, olive oil, vanilla extract, flax eggs and sugars. Blend until incorporated (if you don't have a high powered blender, you can mix the wet ingredients separately with a stand or hand mixer, but a blender like a Vitamix makes the recipe super easy and minimal dishes!).

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix by hand with a rubber spatula until a thick batter forms.  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and top with the optional slices of bananas as a garnish.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted to the loaf comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 20-30 minutes.  Remove from the pan and allow to cool further on a wire rack.  While the loaf is cooling, mix together your glaze by combining the confectionary sugar, vanilla extract and unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Stir until a smooth glaze is formed.

For best results, glaze right before serving.  Slice and enjoy! Good luck with the rest of your holiday preparations!

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