Flourless Blueberry Banana Bread

Back to the daily grind. Holidays are hard to leave behind, even if they’re largely spent in your own home. In your future memories, you skim over the gritty bits. You forget the morning march of ants stalking the watermelon you’re slicing in the kitchen.  You omit the nightly feeling of a sunburned shin or shoulder scraping across a wayward grains of sand in your bed, despite the fact that you were sure you brushed every last one out. The Princess and the Pea has nothing on me. In the months to come you’ll remember morning walks to the beach, salty swims and the taste of coconut.

This has been the summer of coconut. It’s there gently perfuming the suncream which is an essential component of every Australian’s beach bag.

It’s been seen in tropical trifles and deployed in shavings to decorate cakes.

It was present and accounted for in the chia pudding I went back for, twice in one week at our new favourite cafe, right opposite the surf at Collaroy.

It made an appearance in the coconut, mango, banana, chia and flax smoothies that I would tote to Freshwater in the morning.

And it was there in this new favourite mid morning snack. We took it for its maiden voyage on my Dad’s new toy.  It seems coconut flour blueberry banana bread was perfectly designed for a morning messing about with family in boats.

Skimming across the swirls of greens and blue which make up Sydney’s Pittwater on a shiny new boat early on a muggy summer’s morning is a rare treat. After we rowed to shore and investigated reeds, small creatures and boggy sand with Will there was French Press coffee made in the galley and wedges of this. This is a winning loaf. There’s no refined sugar, no flour and as much as the word makes me shudder -it’s delightfully moist- which can be a textural challenge when dealing with coconut flour. There’s a pleasing pop from the blueberries and an open tender crumb. It’s lovely as is, but also perks up beautifully in a sandwich press the next day. Slice it into fingers to take as snacks for small people, or dress it up and serve slices with yoghurt, some fresh fruit- and a few shards of toasted coconut if you’re not ready to let go of the taste of summer quite yet.

Flourless Blueberry Banana Bread

 Shopping/forging

2 ripe bananas (approx 200g of banana)
200 g frozen blueberries
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup/ 60 ml melted coconut oil (or melted butter)
6 eggs
60 g coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder (if cooking for coeliac, check to make sure it’s gluten free baking powder)
2 tbsp ground flax

Here’s how we roll

1) Preheat the oven to 160C/320 F and grease and line a 20 x 12.5 cm loaf tin with baking paper.

2) Add the bananas, 125 g of the blueberries, maple syrup and eggs to the body of a blender or food processor.

3) Blitz to combine until you have a smoothie like texture.

4) Add the remaining dry ingredients. Stir or mix to combine.

5) Scatter half of the remaining blueberries along the base of your lined loaf pan.

6) Pour the batter over the top. Scatter the remaining blueberries over the top of the loaf.

8) Bake for 55 minutes- an hour, until a metal skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove. Slice and eat warm, or transfer to the fridge. Eat as is, or toasted. The loaf will keep in the fridge happily for 5-7 days.

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