Vegan Carob Chip Banana Bread

I have just discovered carob and all it's deliciousness and because of that, I've decided to once again try vegan baking. My previous attempts at baking had been utter disasters, but now that I understand substitutions I've been more successful. The spicy flavor of the carob chips pair very well with that of the banana bread, but feel free to use regular dairy-free chocolate chips as well. Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate chips are a very good (and affordable) brand!

There are many recipes out there for vegan banana bread and well, I didn't like any of them. I created my own instead and they turned out amazing! Also, some kinds of carob chips contain dairy, so don't forget to check the labels!

Carob Chip Banana Bread:
Wet Mix:
3 large, ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 c. Turbinado sugar
1/3 c. no-sugar-added applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
4 Tb. oil
1 c. almond milk

Dry Mix:
2 and 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 c. vegan carob chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Mix together the mashed bananas, sugar, applesauce, vanilla, oil, and almond milk. Set aside.

3. In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until it's just combined. Stir in the carob chips.

5. Spray a standard-size loaf pan with nonstick spray and pour in batter. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes.

This bread is really good when ate hot out of the oven, slathered with Earth Balance!

You can also make a plain version. Just leave out the carob chips and add in 3/4 cup of toasted, chopped walnuts if you like them (if not, you can leave them out). Everything else is the same and you wind up with results like this:

Actually, I took out some of the batter to make muffins, otherwise it would be as tall as the top one, lol. This is a great recipe, nice and moist and not too sweet. Great as a snack!