Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread (Vegan GF-Option)

A light and fluffy banana bread with lots of peanut butter flavour and a soft and cake-y crumb. It comes together in one bowl in 10 minutes and is easy to make – plus it’s naturally vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free. Topped with quick and easy sticky sweet peanut brittle and a creamy peanut butter banana frosting.

The next adventure on my banana bread journey takes me to this Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread and I’m so excited to bring this recipe to you. I have been waiting for the right time to make a peanut banana bread as it’s definitely one of the classics. That said, I wanted to jazz it up a bit and the quick or “cheat’s” peanut brittle does just that.

I call this a cheat’s peanut brittle as this requires no sugar thermometer or raising agents to get that really thick and solid brittle effect. This one, however, is softer and chewier with all the sticky sweet flavours and textures. You will make extras, as this serves about 2 banana bread loaves, but they are great to enjoy for 1-2 weeks after.

How to make this Peanut Butter Brittle:

• I posted a little behind the scenes on my social media showing how this is all made as it’s really so simple.
• Stir together the seeds: I went for sesame seeds and chia seeds, but any seeds will work.
• Add in the peanuts: pretty necessary for peanut brittle but if you want to make another nut brittle, you can swap these out for almonds or cashews.
• In a saucepan make the sticky mixture: coconut sugar, coconut oil and agave/maple syrup combine to form a really sticky mixture. Allow this to just bubble and turn a dark golden caramel colour before removing from the heat.
• Stir in the nuts and seeds: and it will thicken up quite a bit before pouring it onto a lined baking tray.
• Bake until golden: it will still be quite soft straight out of the oven, so be patient and allow the brittle to cool fully before breaking apart.

That’s all there is to the brittle. As for the banana bread, it is equally as simple and comes together in one bowl. It’s a classic peanut butter banana bread with a few added extras to make it more exciting.

Here’s what we need:

• Plant-based milk and lemon juice: combine these two ingredients to form a vegan buttermilk as the acid curdles the milk. You could also use apple cider vinegar.
• Ripe bananas: as always, the riper the better! I also like to weigh out the bananas as they can vary so much in size and weight.
• Smooth peanut butter: I think smooth works best for this recipe, but any will do. Opt for one without palm oil or added sugars.
• Maple or agave syrup: I really love using agave syrup at the moment as it is so sticky and sweet! Any liquid sticky sweetener would work here.
• Plain flour: you can use GF plain flour or regular plain flour, as long as the GF blend has xantham gum in it to help bind the ingredients. The texture changes slightly between the two types of flour, but they are just as tasty.
• Tigernut flour: I love using this flour as the texture is so great. It’s almost like a cross between ground almonds or almond flour and plain flour. It has a mellow sweet taste and makes this texture really special. If you don’t have any tigernut flour, you can use ground almonds or almond flour.
• Baking powder and bicarbonate of soda: each work their magic on this batter to make for a really light textured loaf.
• Salt: just as pinch really amplifies your bakes.

Stir the Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread batter until thick and glossy and transfer to a lined loaf ban before baking. Have a cup of tea while it bakes, and then wait patiently for the bread to cool down fully – this is important otherwise the frosting will slide off.

As for the frosting, it’s a really simple but delicious banana peanut butter frosting with only 3 ingredients. 

For the frosting, blend up:

• Banana
• Peanut butter
• Agave or maple syrup

Spread it thick and then decorate this Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread with the brittle pieces. It’s a really delicious one packed with peanut flavour, a thick lucscious frosting and lots of chewy brittle pieces. Slice it thick and serve it to friends and family or grill an un-frosted slice and spread it thick with more peanut butter.

This Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread is a simple, wholesome, cakey and light textured loaf packed with flavour and aroma. It is naturally vegan with a GF option and contains no refined sugars. It is great for a quick and easy bake to serve as an afternoon snack, breakfast or dessert.

I hope you will love this Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread and if you are looking for more banana bread recipes, how about my:

• Strawberry and Lemon Banana Bread
• Coconut Banana Bread
• Sticky Orange Banana Bread
• Chocolate Florentine Banana Bread
• Toffee Pecan Banana Bread

I cannot wait to hear what you think of this month’s banana bread recipe so let me know in the comments below. If you make this Peanut Butter Brittle Banana Bread, please tag me in you bakes, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With peanut butter brittle love x