Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

I love to cook! But baking has never been my strong suit. It needed to be easy if I was going to try it. But over the past few years I’ve wanted to try more things. And this past year in particular…I think we all became at home bakers in some fashion! There is a local gluten free baker where I live that bakes the MOST amazing treats. She makes a Cinnamon Swirl loaf that is TO DIE FOR! I found myself staring at some pitiful looking bananas thinking about making banana bread. What if I leveled up and added a cinnamon swirl?!! So I did a little research looking at different ways people add the swirl. And then…I went for it! I’ve made this banana bread recipe many many times. But never with the swirl. My oldest son looked at me and said “Mom, this is the best bread you’ve ever made”. And now I’m not sure I’ll ever make it a different way!

Banana bread ingredients:

3-4 ripe bananas (I prefer 4 for best results!)

1 TBSP milk

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups Gluten Free cup for cup flour (I use this brand)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 TBSP vanilla extract (homemade vanilla extract recipe here)

Cinnamon Swirl Ingredients:

3 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

3 TBSP granulated sugar

3 TBSP brown sugar

2 TBSP ground cinnamon

Directions:

- Mash bananas and milk together, set aside.

- Cream butter and sugar together, then add the 2 beaten eggs.

- Combine the above mixtures. Then add the remaining banana bread ingredients.

- Mix well, set aside.

- Mix all ingredients for the cinnamon swirl in a small bowl.

- Add 1/3 of banana bread batter to a greased loaf pan.

- Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon swirl mixture around. Then take a butter knife and swirl around gently. Not too much, otherwise it will bake into the bread.

- Repeat batter and swirl steps until finished.

- Bake at 350 degrees for 50 min and then check. Depending on your oven you may need to check a few times. It will be done when a toothpick can be inserted and removed clean.

- Try your best to wait 10 minutes for bread to cool before cutting!

Notes:

- This can be made into muffins as well! Bake 15-18 min and check.

- I have made this refined sugar free before. Replace the granulated sugar with coconut sugar.

ENJOY!!!!

Love, Nikki