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Happy Holidays, I hope you’re having a great December wherever you are 🙂
I am here today to share with you a recipe that is perfect to enjoy in front of the fire with a cup of hot cocoa or almond milk, and this cold weather makes me love this bread with it’s warming spices even more.
This year I got a bit of a change of scenery to my usual warm December weather. Chris and I headed back to his hometown in New Jersey and all I have to say is brrrrr. I’ve never had a cold Christmas, or winter season that is, and I’m really loving it here. I’ve of course been in the cold before when my family takes trips up to the mountains and whatnot, but two weeks has been a learning experience for me here haha! It really helps that his family makes me feel at home and we brought our dog Berry along as well.
I have a ton of vegan Christmas/Holiday recipe ideas if you guys need some inspiration, you can check them all out here. I adapted this recipe from my most popular recipe to date on this blog, my Date-Sweetened Banana Bread that is gluten- oil- and refined sugar-free! You can check that out here.
I made this recipe in collaboration with a few vegan bloggers you might all know, so I will link all of their recipes below for you to check out because they are just the cutest!
Vanilla Almond Snowmen by Caitlin Shoemaker of From My Bowl
Vegan Flaky Homemade Pop-tarts by Faith of The Conscientious Eater
Chocolate Whoopie Pies w/ Peppermint Frosting (Oil and gluten free) from Naomi of Naomi The Sweetest Potato
Santa Hat Chocolate Cakes from Lisa
As always, make sure you tag me on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan or twitter @sweetsimpleveg and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of these recipes, I love to see your photos!
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Vegan Gingerbread Loaf w/ Sweet Potato Vanilla Frosting {gluten, oil & refined sugar-free, low-fat}
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free oat flour (or make your own, see notes)
- 3 large spotty bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup pitted medjool dates, packed
- 1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
- 2 tbsp chia seeds (or ground flax) + 6 tbsp water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 3/4–1 tbsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/3 tsp ground cloves
- 1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
Sweet Potato Frosting:
- 1 cup mashed white sweet potato (see notes)
- 1/3 cup pitted medjool dates, packed
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
To top:
- Fresh pomegranate or raspberries or strawberries (anything red)
- Sweet potato frosting (above)
Instructions
- Create a chia egg: Mix together the chia seeds and water, then set aside to thicken.
- Line a 9″x5″ bread pan with parchment paper (see how here) and preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a food processor, place your 1/2 cup medjool dates and 1/3 molasses. Process until uniform, scraping down the sides as needed.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add in the date molasses mixture, plus the vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and chia “egg”.
- In another large bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients until uniform, then add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the line bread pan, leveling out the top with a spoon.
- Place into the oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool completely. Top with frosting and toppings of choice, and serve with a cup of almond milk or chai spiced hot cocoa 🙂
Notes
- To make oat flour, simply blend rolled oats in a high speed blender until fine.
- You can see how to line the bread pan here.
- Frosting adapted from Feasting On Fruit.
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Vegan
This loaf is absolutely delicious and tastes wonderful despite being low fat. I didn’t make the frosting – I might try that next time I make it – which will be soon!
So glad that you liked it! 🙂
Yum, this looks wonderful! Can’t wait to give it a try this season. Stay warm in New Jersey!
I never knew that you and Chris are originally from New Jersey! It must be FREEZING up there. But hey, more excuses to have super warm foods like this amazing loaf!
Chris is, not me! 🙂 Yes yes it was definitely a whole new cold for me haha
I had to use some substitutions (pomegranate vinegar for the apple cider vinegar and I had to top up molasses with a little maple syrup because I had less than the 1/3 cup called for in the recipe) but it still came out great. I’ll be making this again, for sure. Oh, I also added about 1/4 cup of chopped crystallized ginger to the flour mixture before adding it to the wet ingredients. Definitely recommend that.