Let me tell you a little story about this banana bread.

It all started when I was browsing one of my latest food blog obsessions, Nourish Atelier. I saw this recipe for banana bread and thought, “You must make this immediately.”

It ended up taking a week or so until I got around to it. But last Saturday, I had a little time so I decided to make it before dinner.

I was wary of how the bread would taste because I’ve never used spelt flour. I pictured some kind of sawdust-tasting loaf that was barely edible, but luckily, it didn’t turn out that way at all.

The spelt just gives the bread a heartier flavor, similar to whole wheat. When you combine it with the caramelized bananas and raspberries, the bread is sweet enough to stand on its own but also a good base for toppings. I put some Irish butter and homemade strawberry chia jam on top and ate a slice with a cup of apricot vanilla tea (another recent obsession). I highly recommend that combo.

Here’s a good song to listen to while you’re drinking tea and eating toast.

Banana Bread with Almonds and Raspberries (slightly adapted from Nourish Atelier)

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas
¾ cup oats
1 ⅔ spelt flour
½ cup almonds, roughly chopped (optional: pres soak the almonds for a few hours if you have time)
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup almond milk
a few drops vanilla extract
1 tbsp lemon juice
t tsp salt
⅛ cup agave syrup or honey (honey is not vegan)
1 tbsp chia seeds
2/3 cup frozen or fresh raspberries (add last)
toppings: a big handful coconut flakes

Directions

Heat up your oven to 400 F. Peal and halve the bananas. Warm up a frying pan and add a bit of coconut oil. Fry the banana halves for a few minutes until they are nicely caramelized.

Remove the bananas from the pan and mash in a bowl. Add almond milk, chia seeds agave syrup, vanilla and lemon juice, mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the cake ingredients (the dry stuff). Add the banana mix to the dry bowl, mix well with a wooden spoon. Add the raspberries with a spoon, (don’t mash them into the mix)

Grease a cake rectangular baking dish. Spread in the dough evenly. Top with coconut flakes. Bake in the oven for one hour or until a stick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out almost clean (no wet crumbs).

Take out to cool a bit before serving. Enjoy!