This week, I came to the acceptance that I cannot bake for the life of me when using a box mix. I’ve actually known this for a while now- past experiences in making brownies while babysitting have never been successful. However, I’ve always been able to blame someone else’s oven for gooey, undercooked brownies. Until this week.
Thinking I could score some easy points for a club I’m in, I signed up for the club’s coming bake sale on campus and was assigned brownies. Except… I ran out of time and ingredients to make them homemade. Oops.
So, down to the 11th hour, I grabbed a gluten-free brownie box mix that I figured would do.
Yes, I know. Shame on me for using a box mix for a bake sale. Not really all that homemade when all you do is mix the powder with 2 ingredients. Not to mention all the artificial and sugary ingredients… but like I said, time crunch. Hey- at least I didn’t try playing off store-bought brownies as my own?
But, some higher-up power also thought I was taking the easy way out. So what do I get? Gooey brownies that wouldn’t hold form and were burnt at the bottom.
Hmmm, thought me. Must have been the box brand. But alas, no. Because box 2 turned out the same way, with the sides rock hard.
Grumbling that I should have just gone out and splurged on ingredients, I tried box 3. And a miracle happened. Passable brownies… an embarrassingly long time later.
Lesson learned? I’m sticking to baking from scratch from now on. For me, it’s actually less time consuming. Plus, homemade is 1000x better than box mixes.
Which is why I was happy to make my (from scratch) coconut banana bread today 🙂
Coconut Banana Bread (Paleo)
Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup tapioca flour/starch
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup shredded coconut
3 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a bread pan with parchment paper.
Combine bananas, eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla in a food processor and blend all together.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, shredded coconut, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and power, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to the wet and stir/blend together until combined.
Transfer bread batter to the bread pan and place in the oven for 45 minutes.
Let cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan.
Health Without Sacrifice 