Spelt Oat Date Banana Bread with Cocoa Nibs and Millet Seeds

How was your long weekend? I ended up staying in the apt all weekend long with the oven cranking, testing Valentine’s Day recipes. Yeah, that holiday is flying towards us quickly, have you seen the drug stores?! They’re like Valentine’s Day vom-ed everywhere.

I’ve also continued my diet situation and I’m feeling really good…except for those moments when a chocolate cake is on the counter and I have to stay N-O. DA STRUGGLE.

One thing that I feel super chill about eating is this banana bread. The coziest of cozy foods will always and forever be banana bread. This is a bit of a healthier iteration utilizing spelt flour (my favorite) and oat flour. The butter was replaced with olive oil. There’s only a lil’ bit of brown sugar to make it taste delicious but it could easily replaced with coconut nectar or brown rice syrup, if needed. And I love the additions of cocoa nibs, millet seeds and dates. It’s a banana bread that’s yes, moist (shudder), but filled with great texture and flavor.

It’s a good breakfast situation. I say make it at night and eat it slice by slice, one day after next. This banana bread was adapted from the one in The Year of Cozy. I’d say it’s its healthier cousin that can make you feel badly about yourself for loving pizza as much as you…but nicer and way more chill.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Spelt Oat Date Banana Bread with Cocoa Nibs and Millet Seeds

Author: Adrianna Adarme

Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 55 minutes mins

Serving Size: 1 (8x4-inch) loaf

Ingredients

Dry Mix:

• ▢ 1 cup spelt flour
• ▢ 1/2 cup oat flour plus a handful of old-fashioned oats for topping (*see below in "notes" on how to make oat flour)
• ▢ 1/4 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 3/4 teaspoon salt

Wet Mix:

• ▢ 1/3 cup olive oil
• ▢ 3 ripe yet firm bananas mashed
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 2 tablespoons coconut nectar or brown rice syrup if you don’t have either of these, you could skip them entirely
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Mix-ins:

• ▢ 4 dates, seeds removed and diced
• ▢ 3 tablespoons cocoa nibs
• ▢ 2 tablespoons millet seeds plus more for topping

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 8 x 4-inch loaf pan and set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, oat flour, brown sugar and salt.
• In another medium bowl, combine the mashed bananas and baking soda; mix. Then add the coconut nectar or brown rice syrup, egg and vanilla extract. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until speckles of flour disappear. Fold in the diced dates, cocoa nibs and millet seeds.
• Transfer the batter to the loaf pan and smooth out the top. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with oats and millet seeds. Transfer to the oven to bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Notes

*To make oat flour, add 1/2 cup oat flour to a food processor or blender; pulse until very fine. Measure out to ensure that it measures out to 1/2 cup of flour. Proceed with recipe.

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