Do you ever find yourself wasting bananas? With a recent batch of “I bought too many”, I decided to ripen them up and use them for something I’ve been wanting to try for a while now, gluten free banana bread squares.

Why has it taken me so long? Well because as a migraine sufferer I have to be really careful with certain foods that can be triggers. These are foods like over ripe bananas, avocados and grapes. I’m not kidding, instant auras and migraine.

I never connected it until I started spinning years ago at a local gym, and after each visit I would get a gluten free, dairy free protein shake. They would use half of a banana (that looked brown) and other ingredients. I couldn’t figure out why I was working out, feeling healthy but constantly getting migraines.

After some extensive research I discovered this connection to migraines and these over ripe foods. Cooked onions and apples bother me too if they are not organic. Sounds like a fun life right? Between the autoimmune stuff, the gluten intolerance and this, life got even more interesting.

So my only past attempt with gluten free banana bread was with a recipe from my very first cookbook Babycakes. It’s a pretty famous recipe and apparently Mary-Louise Parker’s favorite because she is pictured in this cookbook eating it. Of course, I had to try it.

It was good, but not good enough to make again. This recipe, on the other hand that I’ve adapted from my Magnolia Table cookbook was really, really good and super moist. Add chocolate chips or nuts and wow it would be amazing.

And the good news is, it’s really so easy to make.

My Ingredients

This recipe is super easy. When I noticed my bananas were beginning to ripen to where my kids would not eat them I put them in the refrigerator for another day or 2 until I was ready to bake. So my smashed bananas were cold when they got added to the batter. I’m not sure that this makes a difference but I thought I would let you know anyway.

I used King Arthur’s Measure for Measure again and I was really pleased with how they turned out. I substituted with 2 flax eggs and coconut sugar just to see if I could get great results like the Lemon Poppy Seed Bread.

But even though I subbed with coconut sugar, I still used organic cane sugar to sprinkle over the top of the bread before baking. I do not think this can be substituted, but it can probably be left off. I always recommend making my recipes as written first, before you make any kind of adjustments though. I want to make sure you are getting the same results. This is another reason I insist on getting a scale to measure your ingredients. You’ll be glad you did.

Of course I used Earth Balance butter to make this dairy free and I didn’t add any nuts or chocolate. But if I could I definitely would.

My Method

I really didn’t have a special method to make these. I lined my square pan with parchment paper to make them easy to come out of the pan. It makes for an easy pan to clean too;)

Basically I whisked together my flour, baking soda and salt, then set it aside. Next in a separate bowl I mixed the melted Earth Balance, coconut sugar, flax eggs, and vanilla until combined. I added the bananas, mixed again, and then combined the dry mix to the wet mix. So quick and easy.

After you bake the banana bread, make sure you let them cool completely before cutting them into squares.

I hope you love this recipe. Be sure and post a picture of yours in my Stay Gluten Free Community (it’s FREE to join, click here). I’d love to see them.

I also had an idea this week that pictures of the actual products I use would be helpful. If so, I am happy to add those. Let me know in the comments below if you would like to see them.

As always, I hope you love this recipe as much as we did.