If you know us IRL, you probably know that we periodically eat a paleo diet for a month or two to get ourselves back on a healthy track. Right now we’re on week 3 of an 8-week paleo “challenge” that several folks at our gym are participating in. We’ve been cooking up lots of paleo food, some old recipes that we cycle through over and over, and also experimenting with some new ones.

This fruit and nut loaf recipe has gone through a few revisions before getting it just right (to our tastes, anyway). Since we can’t use any sugar or fruit juice as a sweetener, we’ve had to get very creative/resourceful to make this taste like a comfort food. A slice of this loaf goes great with a cup of coffee in the morning, or makes a nice snack or dessert at night when you’re missing something sweet-ish after dinner. If you have a friend that’s trying out paleo, and maybe struggling at little as we did at first, this loaf would be a nice treat for him or her.

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour

1 cup coconut flour

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 fresh, ripe bananas with some brown spots (mashed)

2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp almond extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup chopped dates

1/2 cup chopped pineapple

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cloves

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp honey (I use a raw honey that’s especially sweet)

Directions

1. Mix the flours, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and salt. I mix them in the large stand mixer bowl because the wet ingredients will be mixed in later.

2. Mash the bananas in a medium bowl (I use a potato masher), and add the coconut oil, vanilla extract, almond extract, and eggs. Mix well.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix to form a batter. Don’t over-mix, or the almond flour will start to get oily. Fold in the walnuts, pineapple, and dates.

4. Pour into a 8.5″ x 4.5″ loaf pan lined with parchment paper. Use a spatula to smooth the batter out on top of the loaf.

5. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes (test with a knife to make sure it comes out clean). At the 45 minute mark, drizzle the honey over the top of the loaf and return to the oven for the remainder of baking time.