My Secret Recipe Club assignment this month was The Ginger Snap Girl, and after scouring her blog to pick a recipe to make, I’m a little smitten. Gloria and I have so much in common! We’re both in our thirties, married about the same amount of time, no children except the animal variety, we both have day jobs, and we both LOVE to bake! It was so hard not to leave comments on the many gorgeous recipes she has shared, but I was afraid I would spoil the surprise of who had her blog this month, so I kept mum.
There were so many recipes of hers that I wanted to make. Pretty much every single one, in fact. I mean, hello, the large majority are baked goods so of course I wanted to make them all! I was reminded of my mother’s love for Boston Cream Pie when I saw Gloria’s recipe, though hers is a million times prettier than anything my mother ever purchased. Then there was the glorious eggplant parmesan, a recipe that I’ve always wanted to try. I thought about making her ginger snaps since she’s the “gingersnap girl,” but I decided against it because I don’t like ginger snaps (the only thing I’ve found that we don’t have in common-forgive me, Gloria!). I still might make them for my Dad, though, who almost always had a bag of them stowed away when we were growing up.
The recipe I chose actually ended up choosing me. I had a bunch of screaming bananas (you know, the kind that are so black they start screaming at you to use them) on the same day that I wanted to bake something sugar-free for the visiting diabetic preacher during our church’s gospel meeting. I had bookmarked Gloria’s banana bread because, as many of you know, I’m on the hunt for a recipe that will beat my baking nemesis’ banana bread at the state fair next year. I decided I’d try turning it sugar-free for Connie. (Yes, the preacher’s a man and his name is Connie. And his wife? Bobby. No joke!)
So of course I had to try it, because I’m not going to hand over a loaf of bread that tastes vile or might make our guest preacher violently ill. I figured he’d forgive me for whacking off a hunk of his loaf for the sake of his health. (My Grandpa always said, “I’m saving your life,” when he found our stash of candy and ate the whole thing. So I guess I got this habit from him! haha) I have had really good results using Truvia, an all-natural sugarless sweetener, in baking and again, I’m quite pleased with the results. The loaf rose well, had a good texture, was perfectly sweet, but turned out just a tad dry, most likely because of the sweetener substitution. I imagine the brown sugar lends moisture to the loaf that the Truvia didn’t.
While Connie loved the slightly dry bread, I decided to try making another loaf, this time upping the sour cream to 1/2 cup and using the NuNaturals MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend that I recently got in a giveaway from My Kitchen Adventures. This banana bread was the definite winner. So unbelievably moist and soft and absolutely NO weird taste/aftertaste. It was just like sugar-sweetened banana bread, but with a the softest texture in a bread I’ve ever experienced. I think the baking blend was responsible for the texture since it says that it will help the texture of your baked goods, and I have to say I’m very, very pleased with this product. Truvia works very well, but the NuNaturals baking blend works even better (so far).
Thanks, Ginger Snap Girl, for giving me a wonderful recipe to share with brother Connie. Next, I will be trying the recipe as written. If it’s this good without real sugar, just think how amazing it will be with brown sugar. I feel a blue ribbon coming on. :)
Sugar Free Banana Bread
Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture
2 cups flour
½ cup Truvia or NuNaturals More Fiber Stevia Baking Blend
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 large bananas, mashed (a heaping cup)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 drops NuNaturals Vanilla Stevia (optional)
Optional add-ins
½ cup chopped nuts
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom only of a large loaf pan; set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients, save the add-ins, until fully combined. Stir in the dry ingredients with a spoon or spatula until just combined. Batter will be thick. Spread into prepared pan and bake for 50 – 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
For banana-nut bread, stir in nuts when the batter is barely stirred together, then continue stirring until just combined. Bake as directed.
For cinnamon-swirl bread, spread half the mixed batter into prepared pan, then sprinkle liberally with cinnamon, avoiding the edges. Spread remaining batter on top, then use a folding motion to swirl the batter. I did this by facing the pan horizontally in front of me, taking my fork and plunking it down on the far left side from me, then pulling it toward me and upward in a circular motion, then repeating it 2-3 more times, moving down the pan to the right. Smooth the batter on top and bake as directed.
Recipe source: adapted from The Ginger Snap Girl
Be sure to check out the other member’s recipes! Click on Mr. Linky below to view all of them.
Veronica's Cornucopia 
I LOVE banana bread!
Great to hear about your experience with sugar subs.
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Looks Amazing! I too have been really, really happy with subbing the Nunaturals Baking Blend for sugar in recipes. They have really got a great product there!
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Great SRC post, Veronica, love your write-up!
Banana bread is awesome and I’m excited you made different versions!
Good luck at the Fair!!
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mm Banana bread! Looks like you did a great job on it, I’m sure it would win a blue ribbon!
I had to giggle when I saw that his name was Connie. My mom’s name is Connie Lynn.
My sister in law (hubbys sister)’s Mother in Laws Name is Connie and Her Father In Law is names Lynn. So it helps me remember their names haha
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Connie and Bobby, that is funny. One of the tech. guys at work is named Kim, people always think I’m transferring them to a female…lol! The bread looks great as well as your pics. I was at a sale Sat. and was looking at blue plates like your first pic has. I always think your photos are so pretty with those plates in them. I didn’t find one I liked enough though, ah well, I’ll keep looking :)
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Thanks, Suzie, I blame blogging for the purchase of those dishes! I honestly ONLY bought them b/c I knew they might come in handy for photos-ha! If I had a bigger house, I think I’d probably go crazy and have an entire “prop room.” Bwah!
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I always appreciate sugar free recipes and your breads look wonderful.
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my SRC recipe this month: Thin Mint Irish Coffee.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
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Instead of using a sweetener like Stevia or Truvia (which I’m not really sure about unless they’re purely from the stevia plant…), have you tried substituting honey or maple syrup??
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Stevia is stevia, but Truvia does have erythritol added to it so I’m not sure about it either. The NuNaturals products are pure though–the baking blend just has added fiber. I have two recipes for banana muffins using natural sweeteners, one with honey and one with agave nectar: https://veronicascornucopia.com/2010/06/17/double-chocolate-banana-muffins/ and https://veronicascornucopia.com/2011/05/31/honey-banana-peanut-butter-muffins/
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Thanks! Cutting sugar is a big benefit to anyone’s diet!
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With your baking prowess and zeal for experimentation, I know that blue ribbon can be yours!! It always amazes me that you have the determination to go through recipe after recipe after recipe . . . and not just that, but changing out different sweeteners? Wow. You should go work for America’s Test Kitchen or something.
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LOL, maybe you’re right!
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Being married to a Lonnie I am sympathetic to the whole Connie thing. What a challenge to make the banana bread sugar free, sounds like you nailed it (the 2nd time).
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I am going to have to try the Nu Naturals! This looks great! Good luck on the blue ribbon! :)
Stop by and see my Mint Brownie Bites!
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I have friends who are diabetic and I will forward this recipe to them. Looks like you got a great blog for SRC. You picked a great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
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I am always on the lookout for diabetic recipes and I think I will bake some of this up for my father for our next visit. Great SRC post.
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Thank you for the kinds words about my blog. You are so sweet. I agree, we have a lot in common…I was reading your “about” page and I have a similar philosophy about making (somewhat) healthy meals so I can splurge on dessert! I’ve been browsing your blog and see some awesome stuff I will have to try. :)
Nice twist on the banana bread making it sugar free. And I also like your cinnamon swirl variation too! Great idea.
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Screaming bananas? Haha! I know what you mean…mine screams because it’s being eaten by flies that magically appear out of nowhere.
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Oh my, this looks delicous! My grandma is diabetic, so this will be perfect to bring to her this Christmas!
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Oh! my this bread is delicious, no sugar!, that’s fantastic, I made with something with bananas too for SRC and absolutely delicious it was.., lovely clicks
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Hi Veronica,
Your recipe sounds tasty and looks so moist but my question is : don’t the chocolate chips contain sugar? Awaiting a reply because I want to make them for a friend who can’t have any sugar.
Thanks.
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I didn’t use any chocolate chips in my recipe, but if you like, you can get Hershey’s sugar free chocolate chips at most supermarkets.
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This can’t be diabetic with using regular flour :((
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