Gluten Freebird

My favorite find in New York was Babycakes, a vegan, wheat-free, sugar-free bakery on the Lower East Side that specializes in gluten-free goods. The little shop is darling. It looks like a retro bakeshop with darling uniforms, rows and rows of cupcakes, and frosting shots.

They don’t exclusively do gluten-free, but they have separate cooking facilities for the spelt and gluten-free items.

I’m not sure if it was seeing so many baked treats all at once or seeing them so soon after my no-sweets regimen, but I went nuts.

I bought a chocolate cake topped with raspberries, chocolate cupcake, 2 chocolate chip cookies, corn bread and my favorite, a banana chocolate chip bread.

The cake never made it home (I ate it on the train), but everything else emerged fairly unscathed and delicious. I ate most of my treats the following day.

The cake was fabulous - gooey and decadent; the cupcake was a tad dry, but rich and satisfying; cookies didn’t taste gluten-free at all (hooray!) and the corn bread was meh.

The banana bread? Well, that was heavenly. So good that I had to recreate it here. Without further ado:

Babycakes’ Banana Cinnamon Bread with Chocolate Chips

Serves 10
(Adapted from Food and Wine)
1 cup gluten-free, all-purpose flour (Bob’s Red Mill, Arrowhead Mills or your choice)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp xanthan gum (I subbed in 1 tsp gelatin)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 overripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup agave nectar (or honey)
1/3 cup soy milk (original unsweetened)
2 tspvanilla extract
¾ cup grain-sweetened chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly oil a standard loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (flour with baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, xanthan gum or gelatin, and salt).

In a smaller bowl, whisk the mashed bananas with the oil, agave nectar or honey, soy milk and vanilla. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on middle rack for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the banana bread cool on a rack at least 15 minutes before turning it out. Let cool completely before slicing.