Marbled Walnut Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favorite recipes to make for breakfast, especially when it has a chocolate swirl, and is full of walnuts that add a rich and nutty flavor! This recipe is so fun to make and fits perfectly in a 6 inch miniature Bundt pan or you can make it in a loaf pan!

Begin by preheating the oven to 350F. Then mix the flaxseed meal with the water. This is going to produce a very thick flaxseed mixture that can be used to thicken the banana bread as well as provide moisture.

Next, you are going to make your oat flour and walnut mixture by blending them together in a blender or food processor until they resemble a coarse flour!

Next, you are going to put that walnut oat flour mixture into a bowl and mix it with the remaining dry ingredients, which are cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking powder!

The cinnamon and the allspice add the perfect amount of spice in this recipe, and it works perfectly with the dark chocolate swirled layer that we make later in the recipe!

In a separate bowl, you’re going to mash the bananas and then mix in the remaining wet ingredients, which are the applesauce, maple syrup and flaxseed mixture from earlier.

I used large ripe bananas for this recipe, but I also love to freeze bananas when they’re ripe and just defrost them in the microwave before mashing them and using them for baking!

Applesauce provides sweetness and moisture to this recipe! You can use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce, or even use cinnamon applesauce if that’s what you have on hand. If you don’t have maple syrup, feel free to use any other liquid sweetener such as agave syrup.

Once the wet ingredients are combined, pour it into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Fold it together and once it’s combined, take about half the batter and place in it a separate bowl. I put half the batter into the bowl I used for the wet ingredients, but you’re welcome to use a new, clean bowl as well.

To one of the bowls, it doesn’t matter which one, add the cocoa powder! After you fold it in, you can grease the mini Bundt pan or loaf pan and begin to layer both batters.

I started with the lighter batter, but about 1/2 of it into the pan and then layered 1/2 of the chocolate mixture on top. I repeated with the remaining batter and then swirled it all together with a tip of a butter knife! Then all you have to do is pop it into the oven for 30-32 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan before removing and enjoy!

Marbled Walnut Banana Bread

• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large mashed bananas
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a mini Bundt pan or loaf pan. Begin by mixing together the ground flaxseed and water in a small bowl and setting aside.

2. Next, blend together the oats and walnuts in a food processor or blender until they resemble a coarse flour. Pour into a mixing bowl and combine with cinnamon, allspice, salt, baking powder.

3. In a smaller bowl, mash the bananas and then add in the applesauce, maple syrup and flaxseed mixture and stir together.

4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and stir together. Once combined, take half the batter and place in it a separate bowl. Then, add cocoa powder to one bowl of batter.

5. Once the cocoa powder is combined, you can layer the batters into your pans, starting with half the light batter, then half the chocolate batter, then the remaining light, ending with the chocolate batter on top.

6. Bake for 30-32 minutes. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing to cool completely. Enjoy!