What's up, y'all? Happy Thursday!! 

This is my first official recipe post on my blog (probably because I'm not much of a cook lol) and may I just say... this adaptation of Rachel Mansfield's recipe was EPIC. I used to bake all the time, and was always dabbling in the kitchen with healthier dessert options because umm hello.... It's DESSERT. I'd say, if we're being completely transparent here, about 70% of my healthy dessert recipes were always total failures. There was always something wrong with the consistency, the taste would be "too healthy" where it doesn't satisfy your dessert craving. Sometimes the ingredients list was just so dang long and expensive that I'd spend an entire grocery bill's budget on organic-gluten-free-Indonesian-fairy-dust-flour that really just made everything more terrible and gritty tasting. lol So, I think that was about the time I gave up and decided when I wanted to have dessert I'd be purchasing it, not attempting to bake it myself.

However, I lust after Rachel Mansfield's recipes on IG all the time, and when I got an opportunity to create a fun recipe with my favorite protein drink EVER (seriously, ever), I figured it was time to venture back into the scary land of healthy baking. After dealing with incessant digestion issues for the last few years, I got a food allergy and sensitivity test and learned I'm allergic to wheat and dairy, and intolerant to so many other things such as eggs. Sucks, because now even if I don't want to be "healthy" when it comes to eating dessert, I kind of have to be. I'm that girl - you know, the one that asks if a restaurant has anything "vegan and gluten free" on the menu **cue eye rolls from the entire table, waiter, and anyone within hearing distance**.

Baking this recipe was very quick and easy! Of course, I totally forgot to buy baking powder (oops) so I made arguably THE ugliest version of a Rachel Mansfield recipe to date, but hey - at least it tastes good, amiright? ;) 

So here it is:

PREP TIME 5 MINS        COOK TIME 45 MINS         TOTAL TIME 50 MINS      YIELDS 8-10 SLICES

INGREDIENTS

• 1 and 1/4 cup mashed bananas (about 3 large bananas)
• 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 3/4 cup Cacao Bean Koia 
• 1/2 cup Unrefined Coconut Oil (melted and cooled or liquid form)
• 1/3 cup Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (this is what I forgot and what would hopefully lead to your banana bread looking much prettier than mine)
• 1 and 1/2 cups oat flour (I used sprouted - make sure if you use this kind that you do not eat the batter raw!) - GF or spelt flour works great too according to Rach
• 2 tablespoons Organic Powdered Peanut Butter
• 1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks or chips (I used Enjoy Life Mini Chips)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread dish with coconut oil or line with parchment paper
2. In a large bowl, mix together mashed bananas, creamy peanut butter, ground flaxseeds, Koia, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract
3. Mix well then add in rolled oats, flour, baking powder and pb powder and mix again
4. Fold in dark chocolate chips then pour into bread dish
5. Bake in oven for about 40-45 minutes
6. *Will stay good for a few days on counter or fridge and you can also freeze for longer

This post was sponsored by Koia, but all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own. I reached out to this brand because they've been one of my most frequently used grocery items for a long while now. Thanks Koia! xx