Banana Vegan Butter doesn't utilize curdling so it's great for people looking to avoid soy. It can also be made raw. It has a smooth, subtle buttery banana flavor that's great for using as a butter substitute or for amping up desserts that already showcase banana. Try Banana Vegan Butter on pancakes or make banana croissants. Non-dairy butter is designed to mimic real butter in vegan baking applications. Like real butter, Vegan Butter is more solid than tub margarine and not as spreadable. This is so it can perform optimally in vegan baking applications. If your goal is to have a conveniently softer, spreadable Vegan Butter, swap out 1 Tablespoon of the coconut oil with 1 additional Tablespoon canola, light olive oil or rice bran oil.
I've designed this Vegan Banana Walnut Granola recipe to be considerably under-sweet so it can be relied upon for a nourishing breakfast that will deliver sustained energy. If you prefer your granola more on the sweet side, increase the sugar by 2 to 4 Tablespoons.
As the granola is toasted, the heat brings out the full potential of rich banana-enhancing notes from the cashew butter, banana chips and walnuts. As bananas ripen, their starches convert to fructose which makes them sweeter and more suitable for baking. In fact, whenever you plan on baking with banana I advise you to always use over-ripe bananas. I usually transfer these over-ripe bananas to a plastic freezer bag and store them in the freezer. When I have enough saved up I use them in things like Banana Bread, Banana Walnut Pancakes and this granola.
I love caramel because it's the closest thing there is to food alchemy. Ok, maybe chocolate is close to this too but caramel involves a few basic non-exotic ingredients and a simple process. The end result is something that's truly extraordinary and more than the sum of it's parts. One of the great things about caramel is how you can just swap in certain fats and sugars to create caramels with amazing layers of flavors. The more I experiment with working with caramel this way, the more surprised I am.
I've found that building rich vegan caramel flavors (and increasingly, most other vegan baking flavor building applications) works really well when there's a small amount of unrefined coconut oil supplanting the regular fats. Unrefined coconut oil has naturally occurring compounds that mimic some of the flavors of dairy. As I developed this method further I found that a good rule is to use about 10% to 20% of the total fat consisting of coconut oil for optimum flavor. I've been using this in my latest caramels combined with vegan creams or non-dairy milk with great results. Bananas also have some of the flavor compounds found in dairy. What if I combined coconut and banana to use instead of a vegan cream and incorporated it into a caramel?
In this Vegan Banana Caramel recipe, the vegan cream is swapped out for banana purée and unrefined coconut oil. It's the most simple caramel I've ever prepared and one of the most seductive. The banana, coconut and caramel combine to make something truly special. You should be able to reduce the banana and coconut oil slightly to get a more firm caramel if you prefer. I recommend using a squeeze bottle with the top cut slightly bigger than normal for convenient application.
This is the perfect caramel for anything from apple pie, vanilla ice cream or any other dessert you want to bring to the next level.
“See those bananas over there?”, I asked, tilting my head towards the end of the aisle at the health food store. “I’ll buy fifteen of ‘em for half price”, I suggested confidently. The cashier paused for a moment, not knowing whether to believe me. Why would anyone want to buy bananas that were almost more suitable for the compost bin than the kitchen for any price? “Sure”, he sighed. He knew they were garbage unless I took them in. I laughed to myself when I realized how excited I was to buy bananas that most people wouldn’t even think of eating. I started to feel bad about not liberating the others but I had to get home; there was work to do! How cool would it be to peel the bananas, purée them and slow cook them into a thick syrup to use as a base for fruit sweetened banana bread? Finally, something to do with all those bananas laying around in your freezer!
Real banana is blended into this Rich Vegan Banana Cream Frosting recipe which creates a rich banana cream with butterscotch overtones. This vegan frosting recipe utilizes the power of soy milk powder (not to be confused with soy flour) which adds extraordinary creaminess while still allowing the frosting to remain firm. It also takes advantage of caramelizing sugar to the thread stage of 230F (110C) where it contributes a smooth velvety texture. The firmness of this frosting can be customized to your preference easily by adding or subtracting 1 Tablespoon of water.
The more I use yeast instead of baking powder for quick breads such as Yeasted Vegan Banana Bread, the more I notice that yeasted breads produce far better flavor results. How did we get into this bad habit of chemically leavening our sweet breads with baking powder and baking soda? One word: convenience. Yeasted breads take about 3 times longer to make because we have to wait for the yeast to do it's thing. Yeast leavened breads are usually considerably more flavorful than chemically leavened breads because as the yeast ferments and spits out C02 that rises the bread, it also produces a multitude of complex flavor compounds. This is not the case with chemically leavened breads where few flavor byproducts are produced during the chemical reaction between acid and alkalne that produces the C02. Yeasted Vegan Banana Bread is now my go-to vegan banana bread recipe.
Bananas work great as a vegan egg replacer due to their abundance of specific starches and sugars. Keep in mind that whatever you put bananas in will undoubtedly turn into banana-whatever-the-name-of-your-recipe-is. This can be great for things like vegan cakes, pancakes and quick breads but awkward in things where you're not going for the whole banana thing. Bananas aren't as powerful binders as Egg Replacer Powder or Flax Seed Egg Replacer but due to the large amount of sugars and pectin they contain, they're more powerful than using Yogurt as an egg replacer.
One wonderful summer in lovely Northern California, I had the pleasure of camping with one of my favorite people ever (who I'll just call Alf). That night he introduced me to something I'll never forget...Banana Delight! Serve with some quality sipping whiskey and good friends.
This Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Pie recipe combines probably the three best flavor combinations in the entire dessert world. These three prominent flavors are then brought together in this vegan pie with brown rice syrup, non-dairy milk and a touch of salt. Use Flaky Pie Crust for best results.
This easy to make Vegan Banana Walnut Pancake recipe features both banana purée and banana slices for maximum banana flavor. Walnuts add an earthy complexity. Top these vegan pancakes with a touch of almond butter, fruit and/or real maple syrup.
This Vegan Banana Walnut Ice Cream recipe makes wonderfully creamy ice cream due to its extensive use of bananas and cashew butter This vegan ice cream is further enhanced with non-dairy milk, walnuts and a touch of vanilla extract.
There's something about bananas and walnuts that just makes a perfect quick bread. This Vegan Banana Walnut Muffin recipe delivers it to your tastebuds thanks to the help of cinnamon, nutmeg a touch of vanilla extract. A slice of these vegan muffins topped with almond butter is a great thing.
This Vegan Banana Walnut Cake recipe is a staple birthday cake in my family. Nutmeg, walnuts, and a touch of vanilla extract really brings out the banana. It pairs perfectly with Chocolate Frosting or Ganache.
This Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe takes advantage of the binding and flavor enhancements of all those bananas you have in your freezer. These vegan cookies also feature cashew butter, almond butter, rolled oats, a touch of vanilla extract and a generous addition of chocolate chips.
Banana Vegan Butter doesn't utilize curdling so it's great for people looking to avoid soy. It can also be made raw. It has a smooth, subtle buttery banana flavor that's great for using as a butter substitute or for amping up desserts that already showcase banana. Try Banana Vegan Butter on pancakes or make banana croissants. Non-dairy butter is designed to mimic real butter in vegan baking applications. Like real butter, Vegan Butter is more solid than tub margarine and not as spreadable. This is so it can perform optimally in vegan baking applications. If your goal is to have a conveniently softer, spreadable Vegan Butter, swap out 1 Tablespoon of the coconut oil with 1 additional Tablespoon canola, light olive oil or rice bran oil. 
