One of the first Keto Show videos I ever made was low carb banana bread. No, seriously, it's the third video I posted to our channel and it's ... cringey.
People still enjoy the recipe, it's a good gateway dessert recipe for people new to low carb, but goodness gracious the video is bad. So, when Performance Nut Butter asked us to try their new cacao product, it seemed like the perfect time to revisit that recipe and video. Also, with the coronavirus currently in full swing, we're not making many trips to the grocery store, but we just so happen to have some bananas we need to get rid of ... we can only feed our rabbits so much banana.
You may remember we recently used their Macadamia, Coconut and Cashew Nut Butter in our dark chocolate nut cluster low carb dessert recipe.
Since this is a recipe and a review, it's going to be one of our longer posts. So, let's get to the good stuff first. Our updated low carb banana bread recipe using Cacao Performance Nut Butter.
How to Make Low Carb Banana Bread with Cacao Performance Nut Butter
For those looking for a low carb banana bread, this recipe could not be easier. Each slice is roughly 6.8 net carbs per serving, and there are only 7 ingredients, and four steps.
For all the keto people, the ratio break down is:
65.9% fat,
22.6% (total) carbs,
10.9% protein.
Tools We Used:
Stand Mixer
9" x 5" loaf pan
Ingredients
2 Bananas,
15 g - Butter, Salted, Softened
1 Packet of PNB (28 g)
1 Egg (50 g)
5 g - Vanilla Extract
170 g - Bob's Red Mill, Almond Meal, Flour
10 g - Baking Powder
*Note: Don't have nut butter? No worries, just remove that ingredient and up the butter to 40 grams. Some of the sweetness comes from the nut butter though, so you may want to find an additional sweetness source.
*Optional: I don't much care for artificial sweeteners or for things that are too sweet in general, but if you like sweet things you can add up to 30 g - Splenda. This part of the original recipe, but we enjoy the bread without it.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°.
Combine everything except baking powder, scrape sides to make sure everything gets mixed well. If you're using a stand mixer, you can go longer to try and incorporate more air into the batter for more volume.
Mix in baking powder slowly, pour into a parchment-lined pan
Bake for 30 minutes at 350° or to internal temperature ~210F.
Serve warm and enjoy.
Nutrition
This recipe makes 10 slices of banana bread.
**NOTE** I got these numbers after putting all the ingredients we used into my calorie tracker. I use Cronometer. Be sure to add this recipe to what you use to track your macros with the brand of ingredients you use for the most accurate count.
Per slice:
7 Years Later, Low Carb Banana Bread Then Vs Now
Thoughts from Josh:
Seven years ago, I realized I enjoyed cooking. But like Jon Snow, I knew nothing (it's been a year, already, let S8 go).
After endless experimenting in the kitchen, I present to you ... the almost exact same recipe seven years later. Is that a cop-out? Not quite.
Back then, I had an approximate idea of how things worked in the kitchen, now my knowledge has improved! ... slightly. Here are some of the changes made from last time:
I really don't like volumetric measurements (stay tuned for that blog post series) so I took the time to math out the mass measurements.
Making it recently and following the old recipe to the letter, we got a bread that was a little greasy. We dialed down the fat on it a little bit but also made it a point to add the butter in a softened state instead of melted.
Adding butter in a softened state gives the batter a chance to incorporate air during mixing. The nut butter is just protein and fat so we subbed out 2/3 of the butter for the packet of PNB.
The time in the oven was waaay longer than it needed to be for the given volume of bread so this was reduced to somewhere around 30 minutes. Most baked goods with eggs in them are usually done when the internal temperature is close to 210F.
Experiment/Suggestion Section:
Make it less greasy
If you want a little insurance about mitigating grease, consider adding 5 grams of coconut flour and letting the mixture hang out for about 10 minutes. We haven't tried it because I generally hate using coconut flour and have very few uses for it.
Coconut flour tends to suck up all the moisture, which ironically, would seem perfect for what we were going for with this recipe update.
Make it bigger
If you're looking for more volume to it, then do not attempt to sub out the baking powder. Also, don't use baking soda unless you have some sort of acid running around in the mixture (typical options are whole yogurt or buttermilk).
One other option that could be done is to separate the egg, whip the egg white to a stiff peak and fold it into the batter (trying to preserve bubbles in the batter).
We haven't actually tried these but these are some ideas that you could play with. If you do, let us know how it shakes out!
Is Performance Nut Butter (PNB) any good?
Everyone will have different preferences, but if I'm honest, I do actually enjoy the cacao Performance Nut Butter (PNB). It's made from natural ingredients and contains no sugar or sweeteners, which is great if you're like me and more of a savory person. It also doesn't leave that fake sugar aftertaste in your mouth that many low carb or keto products end up doing.
That said, if you don't like the taste of coconuts, macadamias, or cashews, then this will not be for you. You definitely get those flavors, but they're not overpowering. So, if you're indifferent to those tastes, or you like those flavors, then I'd say you should absolutely give it a try.
If you are interested in trying it but are on the fence, now would be the time. PNB is running a sale on their new cacao flavor and offering 30% off between May 19 and May 26, 2020.
Josh's review of the new cacao PNB
We tried the cacao PNB and it's quite creamy and less viscous than your standard nut butter. PNB is great for keto because sugar—or any of its various substitutes—is nowhere to be seen on the ingredients list. It's straight natural products.
The cacao flavor has hints of cocoa to it, but it largely tasted of macadamia nuts and coconut. That's not a mark against the nut butter though, because those are literally the first two ingredients listed on the packet.
I actually enjoyed this one because whenever I eat peanut or almond butter, my default reaction is dire thirst.
But not with this one. PNB doesn't make me drink a glass of water with each serving.
It's rich in flavor and very satisfying by itself. But alas, variety is the spice of life so try as we might, we can't have it in only packet form. Which is fine, since its such an easy ingredient to work into other recipes, like the keto friendly banana bread recipe.
We hope you enjoy this recipe! If you make it, we'd love to see it. Tag us on Instagram using @KaitandKeto!
*Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I may earn from qualifying purchases, and I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Also, PNB provided us with a free sample of their new flavor in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and feelings are our own and not influenced by PNB or their affiliates in any way.