Banana bread is the best. When I think back to my childhood, most of my memories are around food. Not people, not experiences, but food. And one of those food memories is a banana bread loaf (and sometimes pumpkin bread) that we would get at the local grocery store. I would eat it straight out of the tin with a fork because cutting it into slices seemed like too much work…and I didn’t understand portion control. I simply understood the dopamine dump I was getting from consuming such a lovely piece (meaning loaf) of bread. Well nowadays I prefer my dopamine dump to come from a banana bread that has no yellow #5 or canola oil or propylene glycol. Instead, I much prefer some dates, bananas, and some delicious butter…inside AND on top.
Since I’m currently in the third trimester of pregnancy, ready to pop any damn day, I’m eating a lot of dates. And if you’ve never been pregnant or never heard about what dates can do for you during pregnancy…let me give you a visual. I know that’s what you came here for when you were searching for a banana bread recipe! Starting at 36 weeks, eating dates daily can help ripen your cervix. That’s right…we’re talking about ripe bananas AND ripe cervix over here. That’s where my life is at these days. So I’m eating dates, adding them to smoothies, and consuming them in banana bread since that way is the most enjoyable way…all in hopes that labor is even just a tad smoother than it would be if I hadn’t eaten dates. I’m also do about a million other things like drinking raspberry leaf tea, taking evening primrose oil, curb walking (these sneakers and these ones, too, are majorly coming in handy since my feet are swelling and need allll the support), getting abdominal uterine massages, and about anything else they say may help induce and improve labor. Let’s gooooooo, baby girl!
I’m thinking I may whip up one last batch of this banana bread before she gets here. It’s just so damn good. It’s much more dense than the normal banana bread I make and I really dig that. You have to make sure it’s heated up and has a big ole helping of organic grass-fed butter on top. No skimping when it comes to this banana bread. Get that dopamine rush, baby! Speaking of that…maybe I’ll order some groceries today to not only load up on ingredients for this banana bread, but so I can make sure I have all the snacks for our birth center bag! Birth is a marathon and I want to be fully prepared with food that keeps me energized throughout! I’m so damn excited for birth! Kloveyoubyeeeeeee!
Date Banana Bread
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 slices 1x
Ingredients
- 12 medjool dates, pitted
- 3/4 cup hot water
- 3 brown bananas
- 1/3 cup melted butter (ghee, coconut oil, etc.)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups gluten free flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a bread pan with coconut oil spray and line with parchment paper.
- Place dates in a bowl and cover with hot water then let stand and soften for 10 minutes.
- In a food processor, add dates along with the water and pulse to begin to break down the dates. Then place food processor on low and blend until the dates have completely broken down and begin to thicken up, almost like a caramel. Then add the bananas, melted butter, egg, and vanilla extract. Once completely combined, add to a large bowl and slowly mix in the gluten free flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Pour mixture into greased and lined bread pan.
- Place in the oven and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle of the loaf. After 30 minutes, take a piece of aluminum foil and place it lightly over the top of the banana bread to keep from browning too much. Once banana bread is cooked through, let stand for 10 minutes before removing from pan and then let cool on a rack. Serve warm with some butter and enjoy your life! Store in the fridge in a closed container.
What I Used To Make This Recipe:
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I made this last night and it’s not very sweet. What type of dates did you use? My bananas were very ripe so I don’t think it’s that. Otherwise I like the recipe. Any tips would be helpful.
medjool dates!
Can I use regular flour instead of gluten free??
yes!!
Made this today but subbed 1 cup of ground walnuts for 1 cup of the flour and substituted unsweetened applesauce for the butter because I somehow didn’t have any 🙈. It is delicious and my entire family loves it, picky kids and husband included!
Great recipe for banana bread and will make again! I did not have gluten free flour but used a blend of 1c whole wheat flour, 3/4c AP and added about 1/4c of oat bran! Delicious!
This is my new favorite banana bread recipe! I love the usage of dates in place of sugar. I will say I have made some tweaks for my own personal liking…4 bananas instead of 3, add a tbs of avocado oil, 1 heaping teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and 1/3 cup of sour cream or ricotta. I love a super moist banana bread and these additions make it SO good. But again, great recipe as is. I did find it super tricky to bake per instructions. Every time, the top would get way too dark and the inside would be underdone. So, I divide the batter into two silicone loaf pans (about 1/2 to 3/4 full for each pan) and bake for 40 min at 350. Comes out perfectly!
I’ve been meaning to make this for a while and finally did. Love it!! Moist and just sweet enough. Warm up a slice and oh man, don’t even talk to me so I can savor it. I used half almond flour and half regular flour – turned out perfectly. Thanks Juli!
I’m only 25 weeks pregnant but I made these in the Souper Cubes as smaller loaves so I could freeze a few for postpartum snacking.
This bread is stupid good. Well done, Juli!
Highly recommend using butter as the recipe states. This bread is BUTTERY. The dates do make it taste carmely like Juli’s notes indicate. I used 1.5 cups of cassava flour and it turned out a little too moist. (I mean is this really a problem? No.) Next time I’ll go for 1.75 cups or so. Most of the time I need chocolate chips in my banana bread to get excited about eating it. This doesn’t need any add-ins. I’ll be making again!
Finally made this! So good. I baked in muffin cups for easy travel snacks!
amazing!! i need to bake these into muffins next time!
Ooooh was hunting these comments for muffins!!!! Made it into loaf last weekend, and thought of muffin for this weekend, easier to correctly portion for me! Trying!
#35weeks
Was there any change to the bake time?
Worried about the bake time in changing to muffins!
Update! Made as muffins! Just as frickin DELICIOUS!!!! 22 mins bake time! I love this number! Ha! It is still hot here, so the hour bake time was really heating the house! Thanks Juli!!!
Can I use regular flour instead of gluten free???
I had my first baby in June and wish I would have had this recipe in my final prenatal days! I am a little embarrassed to share that I have made this banana bread every week for the last 6 weeks (literally) and am obsessed! It’s the perfect breakfast side and I usually have a slice before bed with butter, of course.