Banana Bread Pudding with Cacao

Juan: How many bananas did you put in this bread?

Me: 12... I think. Maybe more.

I never understood these "banana bread" recipes that use like, 2 bananas. That's bread with a slight banana flavor. My version is more of a super-moist baked banana custard that still slices into neat squares like a bread. 

Why so many? Well, when we harvest bananas here, which is every few days, and there's a hundred or so bananas on every bunch, it's a race to use them. You might not have bananas growing in your backyard, but the next time you see a big bunch in the reduced/quick sale bin at the grocery store, snatch up that deal and make some real banana bread.

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Ingredients 

  • 8 large, 10 medium, or 12 small bananas

  • 1 1/2 cups quick oats (not the chewy Scottish kind)

  • 1 egg (optional)

  • 1/2 cup brown or sugar

  • 1/2 cup flour (if using a heavy flour like almond or coconut, reduce to 1/3 cup)

  • dash of spice - try our cacao spice blends.

  • pinch of salt

  • 1 full tsp baking powder

  • 2 Tbsp kombucha or fresh orange juice

  • 1tsp oil to coat the pan

Utensils 

  • Bowl large enough to mash the bananas and mix all the ingredients

  • Potato masher or something to mash the bananas.

  • Measuring cup

  • Measuring spoons if you really want to go there. I just use a teaspoon and a soup spoon. Or eyeball it.

  • Spatula

  • 8 × 10 baking pan

Directions 

Preheat the oven to 325° F 

Peel the bananas and put them in the bowl 

Mash them up

Add the rolled oats and stir to incorporate. Mash the banana-oat mixture for an additional minute. Add the egg, spices and brown sugar and mix with a few turns of the spatula. 

Grease the baking pan lightly with oil

Make a little well in the banana mixture and add the flour, salt, and baking powder. 

Now pour a nice drop (about 2 Tbsp) of kombucha or fresh orange juice into the well, right on top of the baking powder. It will foam a bit as the acid liquid mixes with the alkaline powder. Quickly, with just a few turns of the spatula, mix all the ingredients together. You should have a nice moist batter, not overly runny, but not at all stiff. 

Pour the batter into the oiled baking pan, helping it along with the spatula. Top with crushed cacao nibs or keep it a simple banana bread.

Place on a middle oven rack and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

Forget the "knife test" for this recipe. With that many bananas, the knife will never come out clean. When the bread begins to brown along the edges and pull away from the sides of the pan, it's done.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving. If you want very neat squares, wait 30 minutes. 


Kristen Krash is the co-founder and director of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative cacao farm and reforestation mission in Ecuador. Sueño de Vida works to educate and inspire everyday people about permaculture, sustainable living, environmental activism and healthy living all in the name of living more in harmony with nature to create a better world for us all.

You can support the Sueño de Vida mission today by purchasing our cacao or contributing to direct reforestation.

Thank you.

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