While the circumstances were less than ideal, I felt lucky to be able to travel home last week with Chris to be with my family after my grandma passed. We arrived back in Colorado last night and had to attend to two filthy dogs from their stay at a ranch, a mess of a house from leaving on short notice, overflowing luggage, and an empty fridge.

But instead of dealing with all of that I worked out, made a simple dinner, and relaxed with Chris the rest of the night. Working out always helps make me feel a bit more normal after a long day of travel as does a home cooked meal.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

Today it’s back to the grind. I’m running around the house at lightening speed but at the same time, still feeling a bit mopey and craving comfort.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

I can’t think of a more comforting snack—or breakfast—than a loaf of rich, warm, chocolaty bread.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

Instead of using mashed banana to keep the loaf thick + moist I decided to use sweet potato puree instead. This allows the chocolate to shine since the sweet potato flavor is undetectable.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

Not only is this loaf studded with chopped dark chocolate and cocoa powder but it’s topped with a chocolate oat crumble and infused with a bit of instant espresso powder. The espresso helps create a more intense chocolate flavor.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

The bread ended up having a texture somewhere in between cake, quick bread, and brownies.

In other words…thick, incredibly soft and velvety, with a nice crumb…but not crumbly.

In other words…extreme comfort.

Just what I was looking for.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

Print this!

Triple Chocolate Quick Bread

gluten-free, dairy-free // yields 1, 8x4 loaf

adapted from: banana bread

Chocolate Oat Crumble

1/3 cup coconut sugar, sucanat or brown sugar
1/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats
3 tablespoons coconut oil, softened
2 tablespoons gluten-free oat flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a bowl and mash together with a fork or your fingers until fully combined and crumbly. Set aside.

for the bread:

1 1/3 cup gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup almond meal
6 tablespoons buckwheat flour
6 tablespoons coconut sugar, sucanat or pure cane sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground flax meal
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder, optional
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sweet potato puree, or pumpkin puree
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk + 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
6 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil, melted + slightly cooled
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 350* F and line an 8x4 pan with parchment paper or grease all sides with coconut oil and knock about 1-2 tablespoons of oat flour around all sides until covered. Tap out excess flour.
Whisk the milk and apple cider vinegar in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, reserving the chopped chocolate until the end.
Whisk all wet ingredients in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Ingredients incorporate best if all are at room temperature.
Pour the dry ingredients on top of the wet and stir together with a large wooden spoon until just incorporated.
Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Do not over stir.
Let sit for 5 minutes.
Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle the crumble mixture overtop.
Bake for 65-80 minutes until the center is set and the top is golden. A toothpick should come out fairly moist with some of the bread sticking to it but not gooey. If the top is browning too quickly, cover the loaf with a foil tent to prevent burning.
Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes then carefully remove and transfer to a cooling rack.
Let cool another 10-15 minutes then gently slice with a serrated bread knife. Serve warm.

tips/substitutions: For altitude around 5,000’ increase your oven to 370* and use 3/4 tsp baking powder. Feel free to turn these into muffins or use a 9x5 loaf pan or 9x9 cake pan. Baking times will vary. You can make your own sweet potato puree by peeling 1 large sweet potato, cubing it, then steaming until very soft. Let cool then puree in a food processor [do not add liquid] for 1-2 minutes scraping the sides as needed. If you want a banana chocolate loaf, sub well-mashed banana instead of the sweet potato puree. Canned sweet potato or pumpkin puree will work fine. I do not recommend Arrowhead Mills buckwheat flour. Buckwheat flour can be easily ground at home from raw buckwheat groats until flour-like in texture. Unsweetened soy milk, hemp milk, oat milk, or 2% milk can also be used. Use safflower, sunflower, or non-GMO canola oil instead of coconut oil if desired.

Want to turn this into chocolate bread pudding? Bake in muffin tins and follow the directions for the blueberry bread pudding bake. Oh, yes.

triple chocolate quick bread // edible perspective

Time to attend to that overflowing luggage.

Ashley

Thank you all again for your thoughtful words this past week. xo

The blueberry crumb muffins are back! Remember when I mumbled something about turning the muffins into a french toast bake if there were leftovers? I don’t expect you to remember that. Well, there were definitely zero leftovers from that batch, but I just couldn’t get my mind off the french toast bake idea.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

I thought about breaking this up post into 2 posts.

I thought about not posting quite so many photos.

And then I thought those were both bad ideas.

Let that be your warning. Hold on tight.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

Many of you ask about adapting my quick breads and bakes to be vegan as well as gluten-free. It’s not always as simple as switching out real eggs with flax-eggs. I’ve found in gluten-free and vegan baking [mostly quick breads + muffins] that flax-eggs typically result in a center that never fully bakes. It can also end up leaving a slimy texture that is just not appealing. Instead, adding ground flax to the dry ingredients and more milk works the best but sometimes even that doesn’t turn out.

However, this time it did.

I made VEGAN + GLUTEN-FREE BLUEBERRY BANANA MUFFINS and they don’t taste like crap!!!!!!!

I’ve failed many, many times before but these turned out soft, fluffy, and even hold together. No funky texture, unbaked center, or brick-like denseness. They even rose + cracked on top! Check it out for yourself.

I am incredibly excited. I don’t apologize.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

The muffins are missing the crumb topping only because it was saved and added to the bread pudding bake you see below.

The reason I call this bread pudding instead of a french toast bake is because of its gooey, thick texture and lack of eggs.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

The best part is that the crumb topping self-caramelizes with everything once baked. The combination between the gooey center and caramelized crumb topping is almost too much to handle.

But not really.

Only 1/2 of the batch is shown below from 1, 8x4 loaf pan – fyi.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

This can be served warm with a spoon or cut into pieces once cooled and picked up with your hands. It turns into its own sticky, loaf-creation once baked.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

You really need zero toppings for this. Promise.

And I must warn you. It’s really hard to share.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

Print this!

Blueberry Banana Crumb Muffins

gluten-free, vegan // 12 muffins

adapted from: blueberry crumb muffins

for the crumb topping:

*note: if making the bread pudding bake below, be sure to bake the muffins without the crumb topping

1/3 cup gluten-free rolled oats
5 tablespoons coconut sugar/sucanat/brown sugar
1/4 cup chilled coconut oil, or vegan butter
3 tablespoons gluten-free oat flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash with a fork or your fingers until well combined and crumbly.
Use as a topping before baking the muffins or set aside to use in the bread pudding bake recipe below.

for the muffins:

3/4 cup raw buckwheat flour
1 cup gluten-free oat flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup ground flax meal
1/4 cup coconut sugar/sucanat/brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
2/3 cup well-mashed banana
3 tablespoons melted unrefined coconut oil, slightly cooled
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup blueberries

Preheat your oven to 350* Fahrenheit and line 1-2 muffin tins with liners.
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.
Combine all of the wet ingredients in another bowl and vigorously whisk until combined.
Pour the wet into the dry and stir/fold with a large wooden spoon until just combined.
Gently fold in the blueberries. Do not over stir.
Let sit 5 minutes then spoon evenly into the muffin liners about 2/3 the way full.
If making only the muffins and not the bread bake sprinkle the crumb topping over each muffin.
Bake for 32-38 minutes until the center is set [springs back] and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let fully cool before peeling the liners. Muffins solidify as they cool.

notes/subs: Around 5,000’ altitude: use 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder and bake at 370*. The banana flavor is light but if you prefer to not use banana I would use 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce. Another oil can be subbed instead of coconut oil.

Blueberry Banana Bread Pudding Bake

gluten-free, vegan // 1, 8x8 pan or 9-inch round

1 batch vegan/GF blueberry banana crumb muffins
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons coconut sugar/sucanat/brown sugar
2 tablespoons ground flax meal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350* Fahrenheit and thoroughly grease an 8x8 pan or line with parchment.
Break apart all of the muffins into large pieces and spread evenly on a large baking sheet.
Toast for 15 minutes then let cool for 10 minutes.
While cooling, whisk together the almond milk, syrup, sugar, flax, cinnamon, and vanilla in a large bowl until combined.
Place the toasted muffins in the wet bowl and gently fold the mixture to coat the muffins. Do not mash.
Pour out into the 8x8 pan, sprinkled the crumb topping over top, and cover tightly with foil.
Bake for 30min, remove the foil, then bake uncovered for 10min or until slightly toasted on top.
Allow to cool for 10min before serving.
Spoon out and serve with maple syrup, nut butter, coconut butter, or nothing at all!

notes/subs: 8x8 square or 9-inch round will properly fit this bake but you could also use 2, 8x4 loaf pans or even spoon into a lined muffin tin or greased mini baking dishes for individual portions. If using smaller containers bake time will decrease. Bake until set.

blueberry muffin bread pudding bake // edible perspective #glutenfree #vegan

The reason for almost making 2 posts is because I also turned the gluten-free blueberry crumb muffins into a french toast bake. Similar to what you see above but not using the vegan/gf muffin recipe. This uses eggs in the batter and has a much more baked french toast quality.

Super thick, perfectly moist, and totally delicious.

Both recipes are geared towards breakfast with a light to medium overall sweetness. If you’re looking for something sweeter a maple syrup drizzle will certainly help, or you can add more maple syrup to the bake mixture itself.

blueberry muffin french toast bake // edible perspective #glutenfree

Time to dig in.

blueberry muffin french toast bake // edible perspective #glutenfree

Print this!recipe includes original muffin recipe as well as crumb topping

Blueberry Bread Pudding Bake gluten-free, dairy-free // 1, 9x9 pan or 10"-inch round

1 batch GF blueberry banana crumb muffins
1 batch crumb topping [use recipe above]
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350* Fahrenheit and thoroughly grease a 9x9 or 10-inch round pan or line with parchment.
Break apart 12 muffins into large pieces and spread evenly on a large baking sheet.
Toast for 15 minutes then let cool for 10 minutes.
Vigorously whisk the eggs, milk, maple syrup, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.
Place the toasted muffins in the wet bowl and gently fold the mixture to coat the muffins. Do not mash.
Pour out into the pan, spread evenly, sprinkle with crumb topping, and cover tightly with foil.
Bake for 35min, remove the foil, then bake uncovered for 10min or until slightly toasted on top.
Allow to cool for 10min before serving.
Spoon out and serve with maple syrup, fruit, yogurt, nut butter, coconut butter, or nothing at all!

notes/subs: 9x9 square or 10-inch round will properly fit this bake but you could also use 2, 9x5 loaf pans or even spoon into a lined muffin tin or greased mini baking dishes for individual portions. If using smaller containers bake time will decrease. Bake until set.

blueberry muffin french toast bake // edible perspective #glutenfree

Breakfast this week? Leftovers of this with a side of eggs. But I think that was obvious.

Ashley