Maple Walnut Mini Banana Bread, delicious, dairy free mini banana chocolate chip loaves, with a delightful walnut maple streusel topping, perfect for breakfast or as a healthy snack.
Few days ago I celebrated my birthday, I am a Libra and Fall is my season. The beginning of Fall, though, when the air is still warm, the temperatures are mild, not too hot, not yet cold, the colors are starting to change, the sky a lighter blue, the leaves a soft green and yellow hue, the overall landscape like it is painted in sepia color.
Outside my window, just outside of Rome, I have a vineyard that produces a famous, local white wine. Looking out the window we could see beautiful, plentiful yellow grapes hanging heavily in bunches on the vines, and before we left they were starting to pick the grapes. Soon after the picking, the grape leaves turned into a yellow color, and looked as if they were dead, they had begun their dormant time.
Gorgeous ombré hues of warm colors are all around us this time of year, like the colors of maple, walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, in these Maple Walnut Mini Banana Bread. Cute mini banana chocolate chip loaves, perfect for breakfast, or as a healthy snack, easy to make and so delicious to eat. With a comforting, sweet and nutty, spiced flavor, that helps transitioning you from the warm Summer to the brisk Fall with a soft smile on your face.
They're made with a blend of all-purpose and oat flours, mashed ripe bananas, coconut oil and almond milk, maple syrup and vanilla sugar, dark chocolate chips, and spiced with bourbon vanilla powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla extract. They would be already good like that, but to take them over the top good there is a maple walnut streusel topping. You'll just have to make them to know how tasty they are. And healthy, way better for kids and adults than the store bought snacks you can find. I've frozen some and they were so handy to take out and re heat in the toaster oven, as good as they were freshly baked.
Baking, a great thing to do in the Fall, to warm up the house and infuse it with the sweet spicy fragrances of your baked goods. Summer doesn't stop me from baking, I love it too much, but it's in the Fall and Winter, that I really get into it.
These Maple Walnut Mini Banana Bread were deeply enjoyed at breakfast, with a cup of coffee, or cappuccino, that my sweet half makes so good. But I don't lie that we also shared one after supper, as a dessert, with a glass of milk. After all, the chocolate chips inside and the streusel topping make them a delightful treat. Moist and rich, soft and crunchy, sweet and mellow.
Enjoy!
Song of the day: "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground", by The White Stripes. Happy October everybody!
Maple Walnut Mini Banana Bread
Adapted on a recipe found on Tutti Dolci
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 7-8 mini loaves 1x
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup oat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- ½ tsp bourbon vanilla powder
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of cinnamon
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp vanilla sugar (or any other sugar)
- ¼ cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled
- ½ cup almond milk
- 1 egg
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips
Maple Walnut Streusel
- ⅓ cup walnuts, chopped
- 3 Tbsp maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ Tbsp coconut oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line on a baking sheet 7 or 8 mini loaf pans.
- Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, bourbon vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
- In another bowl combine banana, maple syrup, sugar, coconut oil, milk, egg, and vanilla.
- Add to flour mixture and fold in just until combined.
- Add in chocolate chips and fold gently.
- Spoon batter into prepared mini pans.
For the topping:
- Combine walnuts, maple syrup, flour, in a small bowl. Add coconut oil and toss mixture with your hands or a fork until crumbly.
- Sprinkle over batter and bake for 20 minutes; rotate pan and continue baking another 15 minutes. The mini banana breads are done when golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on a wire rack.
Notes
You can store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or you can freeze the mini loaves wrapped tightly in plastic for up to 1 month.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
We have another great recipe for a Spelt flour Banana Bread with Walnuts and Honey. Don't miss it!
And a fantastic recipe for Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip "Tortine" (Mini Cakes).
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
Demeter | Beaming Baker says
Nicoletta, these mini banana loaves look and sound so delicious! All I need is a chance to share that view with you two and a few of these loaves for a perfect day with friends. 🙂 Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope it was a wonderful one. If you had a few of these, then I'm sure it was! I'm so happy you two are back. Hope you had a wonderful time on vacation! Have a great week settling back in. xo
Hi Demeter, so happy to hear back from you, we missed you 🙂 . I had a fantastic birthday, filled with love, sun and good food 😉 . I didn't have these maple walnut mini banana bread, but they would have been a great addition to the day. Thanks so much for your comment!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
Fall is amazing....so are these loaves of walnut bread! These sound just wonderful and I love the mini size!
Thank you Kathy, their mini size is perfect to have for breakfast or grab on the go. And I agree, Fall is amazing!
Maresa | breakfast for dinner says
I must get my hands on some bourbon vanilla powder - that sounds incredibly delightful! I love the mini size of these loaves - perfect to stash a few in the freezer. I sure enjoyed visiting your fair city in September - however, Rome was not showing any signs of Fall at that time, it was still hot and sunny every day! I adore fall as well. Cheers to a happy season!
Hi Maresa! Yes, bourbon vanilla powder is amazing! We found it at Duchess Provisions, here in Edmonton, a paradise for cooks and bakers 😉 . I know, we were in Rome too in September and it was summer! But as soon as we got here, we had 4 days of Fall and suddenly winter arrived. It snowed yesterday!!
Deryacenter says
*Note: I like storing my banana bread in the fridge and eating it straight from the fridge, cold. It’s more moist this way and stays fresher for longer 🙂
★★★★★
That is a great tip! Thank you for sharing!
Anika says
Is it possible to make/bake this in one loaf instead of 8 mini loaves?
Hello! Yes, you can. I would use a smaller size loaf pan (8x4in), though, or the banana bread could turn out being not too tall.