Banana Bread Toast

This toast came into creation last summer after a trip to San Clemente to visit my brother and his family. Not far from San Clemente is Carlsbad and on Carlsbad Village Drive there is a little eating spot called Choice Juicery. A few mornings of our stay in San Clemente, Todd would indulge me and make the drive to Carlsbad where we'd stop for breakfast at Choice. Their menu consists of smoothies & bowls, toasts, and grab & go entrees. My breakfast order was always the same, chunky monkey toast and the superhero smoothie (chocolate) + peanut butter.

Once home from our trip and feeling inspired, I set out to create my own version of chunky monkey toast and it truly surpassed my chunky monkey toast dreams. I've made it too many times to count and I'm always a little sad when I take my last bite. It's just so so good!

(Last year, early fall, Todd and I went to Guerneville, California and stayed at Autocamp. We stayed in an Airstream that was tucked in the Sonoma Redwoods. It was amazing! During our stay, we enjoyed this toast for breakfast a couple of our mornings there. We'd sit at our little wood table just outside our Airstream eating toast & sipping hot chocolate topped with a mound of whipped cream. Yes, I'm that person who packs things like banana bread, peanut butter, and breakfast sprinkles for a trip.)

Banana Bread

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cup mashed, ripe banana (about 3-4 medium bananas)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut sugar
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/2 cup almond milk
2 cups sprouted spelt flour (spooned into measuring cup)
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
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1 T raw sugar

Heat the oven to 375F.

Combine the flaxseed and water, set aside to thicken.

In a large mixing bowl mix together the mashed banana, coconut sugar, maple, vanilla, and almond milk.

Add the thickened flax mixture and stir.

Add salt, cinnamon, baking powder, & baking soda, spelt flour, & almond flour on top of the liquids.

Mix together, and once the batter is just combined and no flour streaks remain, pour into a parchment lined 9x5 loaf pan. Top with raw sugar.

Bake for 1 hour.

Check at 50 minutes inserting a thin knife into the center, if knife comes out clean, remove from oven.

Remove bread from the pan and let cool on a wire rack. Once cool, slice into 3/4-inch slices for banana bread toast.

Recipe slightly adapted from Jessie-may.com

Maple Caramel

1 cup full-fat coconut milk

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Combine the coconut milk and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat to a strong simmer.

The caramel will be bubbing continuously.  Whisk every couple of minutes.  Keep simmering and whisking for about 15 minutes or until the liquid has reduced by 1/3. It will have thickened slightly.

Stir in vanilla, lemon juice, and salt into the caramel while it's still warm. Pour caramel into a glass jar. Let caramel come to room temperature before covering and storing in the refrigerator.  Will keep for 1 week.

Recipe from The First Mess Cookbook

Banana Bread Toast

2 3/4-inch slices banana bread

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (I use Adams Natural peanut butter, the crunchy variety) 

1 banana, sliced

1-2 tablespoons maple caramel

Breakfast sprinkles (toasted, chopped walnuts, hemp seeds, & flaky salt)

Heat pan over medium heat, add butter and let melt and get a bit foamy. Give the pan a swirl to coat pan with melted butter. Add sliced banana bread and let it hang out until toasty and golden brown.  Flip and repeat. Layer ingredients on toast as follows,

peanut butter

sliced bananas

a drizzle of maple caramel

breakfast sprinkles

Serve immediately and enjoy!