Did you know that you can eat banana skins? Me either! Apparently the vegan/vegetarians have been doing it for years and didn’t tell us about it! As skeptical as I was of this Banana Bread recipe, I just had to try it. This is my version of Whole Banana Bread/Cake. So delicious, so satisfying!

There is a bit of a conundrum here because you need ripe bananas but you also want skins that don’t have dark spots or look damaged. I made this cake for the first time a couple of weeks ago and was blown away – more importantly, my wife was blown away, with the taste and texture of this bread. I didn’t tell her it had banana skins in it – she loved it, even after knowing. 

There is something wonderful about this bread, the flavors of banana, coconut and almonds just come together really well. There is flexibility in this recipe with the flavorings. The original had cocoa powder in it but neither of us are big fans of cocoa powder in baking so I opted to swap it for all-purpose flour instead. I made the original with Tahini, but swapped it for almond butter the next time around. Citrus sugar is also one of my favorite things to add to baked goods, but this called for brown sugar or coconut sugar. Having run out of coconut sugar (I know, who does that!), I used brown sugar both times cutting down slightly on the quantity – 1 packed cup of brown sugar as opposed to 1 1/3 cups as called for in the recipe. I also sprinkled citrus sugar on top just before it finished baking.  I normally put sprinkle some on top before it goes into the oven, this is just another method to get a similar effect/taste, I have not written it into the recipe.  And you know I love blueberries so in the first cake, I just poured a bunch of blueberries on top (6oz) and pressed them lightly into the surface. This one, I gently stirred into the batter with the banana skins.  Lovely results both times, I can’t show you the original because we devoured it before taking pictures, so just trust me on this one.

Make this bread/cake, and make some vegan/vegetarian friends. Who knows what else they haven’t been telling us about?! Sneaky Pete’s! It’s okay, we have been picking on them for so long and now that we know about it, we will proudly proclaim it as our own invention! There is light at the end of the tunnel my friends, the pandemic is still with us, but we are getting better at battling it. Wash your hands, wear a mask or two, get vaccinated and above all – be safe!  As always – enjoy!

Ingredients
½ cup coconut oil, plus more for greasing the pan 
2 ripe bananas with nice looking skins i.e. no dark spots or bruising
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 1/2 teaspoons for tossing peels
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ cup tahini or nut butter of your choice – I used almond butter this time around
⅓ cup coconut milk, nut milk or dairy milk of your choice – I used “Silk” brand almond milk the first time and coconut milk this time
2 tsps almond extract – or a total of 2 tsps using any combination you want to emphasize the flavor of – vanilla, almond, coconut, lemon etc.
¾ tsp Kosher salt
1 packed cup dark brown sugar – or 1 1/3 cups coconut sugar
6 oz blueberries

Instructions
Heat the oven to 350f and grease a 9”square non-stick cake pan with coconut oil (you can also use a loaf pan but the baking will take longer), line with parchment if you don’t have a non-stick pan
Wash the bananas (with the skins on) well in warm water and dry them
Trim and discard the tips, peel the bananas, then slice the peels crosswise into 1 cm thick strips
Place them in a small bowl with the blueberries and toss with 1 1/2 teaspoons flour to coat – set aside
In a large bowl, use a fork to mash the bananas, you don’t need a paste, just a loose mash (with some chunks is okay)
Add the coconut oil, tahini/nut butter, milk, extract(s) and salt
Beat together with a whisk to thoroughly incorporate and create a thick batter
Add the sugar and beat with the whisk to combine
Stir the flour and baking powder into the batter and fold it in using a rubber spatula until no streaks remain – gently fold in the flour coated banana peels and blueberries
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top
Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes if using a 9” square or 55 – 65 minutes in a loaf tin – insert a toothpick to ensure it is fully baked – it should come out clean – Note – it took longer for the bread to bake with the blueberries on top than with the blueberries mixed into the batter – about 7 minutes more, delicious results either way!
Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then flip over onto a rack or if you lined with parchment, use the overhangs to remove the cake from the tin
Let cool before slicing (really. not. gonna. happen!) or it could crumble into a delicious, scrumptious mound on the cutting board
Store in an airtight container – I keep mine in the fridge

Suggestions and/or changes
Ramp up the coconut taste by using coconut extract and coconut milk
Ramp up the almond flavors by adding slivered almonds into the batter
Chocolate chips make everything better
Dice an apple, coat in cinnamon sugar or citrus sugar and add it to the batter