Nothing quite beats a thick slice of banana bread with a warming beverage. If you’re a banana bread fan, you’ll LOVE this Protein Packed Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread recipe. It features Botanica’s Perfect Protein Chocolate which helps to satiate and is packed with naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, healthy fats and fiber.

Ingredients:

For the banana bread:

• 4 bananas, fresh or frozen
• 4 flax “eggs” (4 tbsp ground flax seeds + 6 tbsp water)
• ½ cup almond butter or peanut butter
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tsp. Baking soda
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tbsp. Cinnamon
• ½ cup chocolate chips

For the chocolate swirl:

• ⅓ of banana bread mixture above
• 2 scoops Perfect Protein Chocolate
• ¼ cup cocoa powder

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven the 350 and line a 9×5 or 9×9 pan with parchment paper.
2. Make the flax egg: In a small bowl, mix the ground flax with water. Set aside for 5 mins to gel.
3. In a food processor, add the bananas, nut butter and coconut oil. Process for 30 seconds until fully combined. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a spatula if needed. Once gelatinous, add the flax egg to the food processor and process again.
4. To the food processor, add the coconut flour, soda, powder, salt and cinnamon. Process again until fully combined, scraping down the sides as needed.
5. Add the chocolate chips and pulse 3-4 times to incorporate.
6. Transfer ⅔ of the banana mixture to your prepared baking dish.
7. To the remaining ⅓ of banana mixture, add the protein powder and cocoa powder. Process for 30 seconds or so, until fully combined, scraping the sides as needed.
8. To the banana mixture in the pan, make a slight well down the middle of the batter. Transfer the chocolate mixture into the well and cover the top.
9. Garnish to the of the loaf with 1 banana sliced length wise and additional chocolate chips.
10.   Bake for 50-55 minutes until the top of golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. The middle of the loaf will be slightly gooey, that’s ok! It’s just the texture from the flax eggs. The middle will firm up once cooled.
11.  Allow to cool for 30 minutes on a wire rack before slicing and serving. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Keeps for 1 week.

*Troubleshooting tips:

If you are using fresh bananas, you will need to use a 9×9 square pan due to the volume of ripe bananas.

If using frozen bananas, the 9×5 standard loaf pan will be large enough.

You may also sub the flax egg for free-range eggs. If doing so, only use ½ cup of coconut flour.