Gluten Free & Vegan Banana Buckwheat Christmas Loaf

At this point of recipe creation, sometimes the weirdest ideas turn out to be something spectacular. Spending my second Christmas in Germany I cannot help but water my mouth over all the delicious German breads and treats. German holiday treats usually include the special spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, dates, figs, raisins, clove and/or star anise. However, sometimes the people with gluten tolerance cannot enjoy such because everything has flour or a wheat-based product. 

I thought why not take a banana type bread and recreate it with buckwheat flour and add holiday spices. This allows those who love Christmas be a part of the culinary adventures. I looked in my cabinet and used whatever I had leftover to concoct a holiday-spiced loaf. 

Of course, if you want to traditional pastry flour you can. Also, the ginger certainly adds spice to the bread and does overpower the banana flavor. So, you can omit the ginger if you prefer the banana flavor. Finally, I blended the bananas in a food processor. This increases the liquid content and reduces  the chunks. If you do not have enough banana you can use applesauce to replace some of the liquid content. A 9x5 bread pan or smaller is best. 

Gluten Free & Vegan Banana Buckwheat Christmas Loaf
Prep Time: 5-7 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
Total Time: 25-32 minutes
​Makes: 9 slices

Ingredients: 
2 cups buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla 
1/2 tsp ginger, diced
3 large ripe bananas, blended in food processor (or half banana / half applesauce)
2 tbsp nondairy milk
2 tbsp agave nectar (or cane sugar)
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup dates, chopped
​1/4 raisins, chopped (or use just all raisins or dates)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Place dry ingredients into a bowl. Blend the banana and add the additional wet ingredients and blend. (If you blend the ginger it will make it a stronger flavor.) Add the wet ingredients into the dry and then fold in the nuts, raisins, dates and ginger. Grease a bread pan or line with parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a fork comes out clean from a poke test. Remove and let the bread cool before cutting. 

Yum