Chocolate Chip Banana Squares
What’s in it?
Banana, coconut sugar, almond butter, gluten-free flour, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt
Want the recipe?
Why do I like it?
It is definitely a challenge to find great tasting gluten-free baked goods. I really love the taste but more importantly, the texture is like a conventional cake. It is very moist and spongy without feeling like a typical “gluten-free” product.
The recipe is written for muffins and the chocolate chips are optional, however chocolate is never optional in my book! I decided to make these as a cake instead of muffins one day when I was short on time. I liked it so much that I have continued to make it in cake form.
The author, Megan Gilmore, writes a very informative post with the recipe detailing the type of gluten-free flour, using frozen bananas and other nutrition info. Worth the read!
Any recipe notes or tweaks?
As mentioned above, I make this as a cake instead of muffins. I used a 9” x 9” square pan and baked it for the same amount of time as written for muffins.
For the chocolate chips, I used Hu Gems which are oversized so I just sprinkled them over the top of the cake before baking. If you want less intense chocolate, use smaller chips and lightly sprinkle before baking. Allow to cool thoroughly before cutting. The chips can stick to the knife and come out of the cake if they are still warm. For this reason, I recommend lightly pressing the chips into the batter before baking.
For the sweetener, I used half coconut sugar and half golden Lakanto (monkfruit). This cuts down on the total grams of sugar and lowers the glycemic index. I prefer cooking with the golden Lakanto in this recipe the coconut sugar flavor still comes through using half of the called for amount.
A note regarding gluten-free flour - the author suggests King Arthur Gluten-Free flour blend that does not have any gums in the mix. After shopping locally, I didn’t find this product in any store, so I ordered it online. I did like the product, however I also wanted to be able to make the recipe without having to order the flour online so I tried making my own using Minimalist Baker’s recipe for DIY Gluten-free Flour Blend. I really love this blend so I make a big batch and it’s always ready to use. It works especially well in this recipe.
Lastly, a note on bananas. The last time I made this recipe I didn’t have enough fresh bananas to make 1.5 cups. But, I always have a stash of bananas in the freezer. I have learned from Megan Gilmore’s recipe for banana bread that you can use frozen bananas if you simply thaw them a bit and keep the liquid that forms and add it to the batter. So I made up for the missing half cup of fresh bananas with frozen that I thawed and it worked great! I think the added moisture from the thaw enhanced the recipe and I will most likely use frozen bananas next time I make this.