Orange-Cranberry Banana Bread with Orange-Cashew Glaze

In our house we go through about 1 to 1 1/2 gallons of raw almond milk per week. All the milk is homemade, using fresh raw, soaked almonds (organic is preferable), dates, lecithin, and non-alcoholic organic vanilla extract. You can find nut milk recipes here.

Almond milk is lactose free, cholesterol free, low in fat, protein-rich, and loaded with nutrients. It’s a great source of vitamin E, selenium, manganese, phosphorus and zinc. Almond milk is also high in beneficial fiber, calcium and folic acid. It’s also much easier on digestion, safer for diabetics since it’s much lower on the Insulin Index, and most of the fat is mono unsaturated – the good fat. Drinking raw almond milk instead of cow’s milk or even goat’s milk is a far better choice for health!

So what do you do with the leftover pulp? Well, if you follow my blog you know that I have been experimenting with quite a few raw bread recipes using the leftover pulp. It’s also great in cookie recipes, pies, and a variety of other raw recipes, but my favorite use for it is in breads. Lately I’ve been experimenting with more creative ways to add moisture to the bread so it’s not so dense in texture. This is very tricky, but can be done. I’m sure there are even better ways to perfect this, but I’m pretty happy with my most recent bread experiment.

I consider this particular bread recipe to be more of a “tea” bread. Serve it with warm tea, or as a breakfast bread or desert bread. It’s the perfect amount of flavor – not too strong or sweet, and it has a light feeling in taste and texture. This bread is super moist. The banana and orange flavors in the bread are subtle. The orange cashew glaze I create compliments the bread perfectly with the perfect balance of sweet and citrus. Here’s the recipe:

Orange-Cranberry Banana Bread with Orange-Cashew Glaze
Bread – Ingredients.
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups almond pulp
1/2 cups whole psyllium husk
1 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp Himalayan salt (or to taste)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 T raw vanilla powder
1 1/2 T coconut palm sugar
1 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup chopped raw walnuts (optional)
1 to 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 to 1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (I used Tagalo’s)

Glaze – Ingredients.
1/2 cup soaked raw cashews
6 pitted Medjool dates
1 1/2 to 2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
1 T lucuma powder
2 T agave nectar
2 T coconut oil

Preparation.
To make the bread, first combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Add the wet ingredients (except for the coconut oil). Mix well. Add coconut oil, and mix well again. Begin to knead the dough mixture until you can form a big ball of dough. Begin shaping it into a loaf and place it on a dehydrator tray. Dry on 115F for one hour. Then dry for an additional 3 hours at 104F. Remove bread loaf from dehydrator to glaze.

To make the glaze, combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until smooth and thick. You can thin the glaze for better drizzling, or thicken for more of a glaze spread. Pour glaze over bread loaf and cover well. Or, you can drizzle glaze over top making a design. Place back into the dehydrator for another 2 hours on 104F. Remove from dehydrator and serve warm or cold. Add more glaze for a spread if desired.

Keep loaf well wrapped and store in refrigerator. Reheat in dehydrator if desired. Slice it up or one slice at a time. Save leftover glaze to serve with bread slices as desired.

I’m very happy with this recipe. If you do get the opportunity to make this bread, please share your comments on what you think, or how you improved on the recipe. I’m always interested to hear what others have to say. I hope you will enjoy it too.

Peace!=)

Debbie