Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Peanut Maple Frosting

Make this wholesome Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Peanut Maple Frosting. Made with coconut oil and less sugar than regular banana bread.

Sometimes I try to be healthy. I make things like this Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Peanut Maple Frosting.

“But that’s not healthy!” you might say. “Just because it has whole wheat in it, it’s not healthy. Look at all the fat from the peanut butter and the sugar from the maple syrup!”

Then I say, “It’s all-natural organic peanut butter and organic pure maple syrup. So, you know–paleo and vegan and all that stuff.”

Then you say, “You’re still fooling yourself.”

And I say, “I know. But I don’t care :).”

So whether or not YOU personally think this is healthy, let’s agree on one thing. It tastes amazing, and it DOES have some healthy things in it. Although people can argue all day until they’re blue in the face about which things are actually “healthy.” Like bananas. And whole wheat. And coconut oil. I don’t like to argue, so I’ll just say that I think these things are healthy (in moderation) and leave it at that.

For this recipe, I used the basic banana bread recipe that I use for my Chocolate Marbled Banana Bread–with a few tweaks. First, I just used 2/3 cup of sugar instead of a full cup. I replaced the vegetable oil with coconut oil, and used half whole-wheat flour. The bread was still plenty sweet, and had a nice, hearty texture without being heavy.

To make the frosting, I used equal parts natural peanut butter and pure maple syrup (PLEASE don’t use the fake corn syrup masquerading as maple syrup!) I added some powdered sugar and water get the consistency I wanted and then slathered it liberally on top. The result was a beautiful loaf of bread with the warm, full flavors of fall.

If you want to jazz up your banana bread, I highly suggest you give this a try. Whether it’s healthy or not 🙂

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Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Peanut Maple Frosting

Author: Melissa Howell

Ingredients

For the Bread

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 very ripe bananas mashed
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder

For the Frosting

• 1/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1-2 tsp. water

Instructions

1. Add baking soda and baking powder to mashed bananas and stir. The bananas will become frothy.
2. Mix sugar and oil in a large bowl.
3. Add eggs one at a time and mix well.
4. Add all of the whole wheat flour plus 1/2 tsp. salt to the batter and mix well.
5. Alternate adding the other 1 1/4 cups of flour with the 1/2 cup of water to the batter. Stir well after each addition.
6. Add the bananas and mix well.
7. Grease and flour a large (9×5) bread pan, or 4-5 small bread pans.
8. Pour the batter into pan(s) and bake at 350 degrees for 40-60 minutes for a large loaf, or about 30 minutes for the small loaves. After the minimum amount of time, insert a knife to see if it comes out clean. If not, bake the bread longer. The top crust should be nice and golden brown.
9. Let cool completely. Then turn out of pan(s).
10. Mix all ingredients for the frosting together, saving the water for last to adjust for consistency.
11. Spread over the top of cooled bread.

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