The "Now I Can Die Happy" Banana Walnut Bread

~The Best Banana Bread I've Ever Had. Period!~

I had a bunch of bananas that were about halfway ripe - you know, yellow, with a few brown spots, but nothing scary. Brennan won't eat them if they have even a tiny spot, and I had a good 6 of them on my counter so I knew I needed to do something quickly before I had an army of fruit flies in my kitchen. Enter Banana Bread 101. I LOVE banana bread, muffins, cupcakes, you name it, but I hadn't made banana bread in a long time so I thought I'd give that a try. No dice - I couldn't find my recipe. So I went through my stack of cookbooks and found a recipe I thought I could easily modify to my particular tastes and allergies. I found a recipe from Bette Hagman in her "The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread" and changed it to my liking. This is gluten free, egg free, dairy free, corn free, soy free and vegan. I'm going to work on getting a lower fat version soon, but this is truly an amazing bread - the addition of walnuts and a secret ingredient (vanilla - shhhh don't tell!) make it to die for!

Banana Walnut Bread

2 cups Regular GF Flour Mix
1/4 cup Garfava Flour
1 slightly rounded tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
3 Large, Ripe Bananas
3/4 cups Brown Sugar
Dash Salt
1/2 - 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
2 tbsp Ground Flax Seed Whisked with 6 tbsp Hot Water and left to stand until thick, about 3 minutes
1/4 cup (scant) Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tbsp Hot Water

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour an 8-1/2"x 4-1/2" loaf pan. Set aside.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl. Add the brown sugar, vanilla, salt and flax seed/water mix and mix well. Add the oil and mix. Mix the baking soda in the 2 tbsp of water and let dissolve. Evenly distribute the dry ingredients over top and mix, adding the baking soda/water mix towards the end. Add the Walnuts and mix until just combined. Pour into pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before slicing. Enjoy!