A vegan, gluten-free and, oil-free Lemon and Mint Breakfast Loaf with a good touch of vanilla! All of these flavors combined have such a delicious flavor and aroma and makes for a high protein, hearty and filling breakfast!
This is not your typical doughy white loaf. It is pronounced in texture and simply amazing in flavor. It is SO filling, that one slice makes your tummy happy. I made it gluten-free as well. I’m in love with gluten-free baking and it doesn’t bloat me up either.
I don’t use commercially bought gluten-free blends because they have so many different flours in them, as well as gums, which I try to avoid. This loaf is a shorter, denser loaf with a perfectly flat top. It turned out wonderfully moist and full of awesome texture, due to the almonds.
I use almond flour and applesauce instead of oil or butter and that takes care of the “fat” needed to give them their taste, as well as moisture. Typically, I’m not a fan of applesauce in baked goods when used with regular flours, but since the almonds contain the majority of the fat and moisture, the applesauce works brilliantly in this. It is a thick, filling, moist loaf….similar to banana bread.
Garnished with lemon zest over the gorgeous golden exterior makes it lovely to serve to guests as well.
Look at that amazing texture…..hard to believe that there is no traditional flour in this!
It’s a perfectly hearty breakfast because it’s incredibly thick, dense and filling…yet the lemon and mint make it feel refreshing and light.
Let me know what you think of this Vanilla, Lemon & Mint Breakfast Loaf (Vegan, Gluten-Free). Drop me feedback below after you make it!
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Vanilla, Lemon & Mint Breakfast Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (160g) superfine blanched almond flour or almond meal
- 3/4 cup (96g) superfine oat flour
- 1/4 cup (32g) tapioca starch
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup packed mint leaves, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons (30g) fresh lemon juice + zest of 1 lemon
- 2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60g) unsweetened applesauce
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- I have also just made these into muffins and they are delicious! This will only make about 9 muffins, just fill your muffin liners basically to the top of the edge of the liners and bake for 28-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with dry crumbs on it and slowly springs back when touched in the center.
- Preheat an oven to 350°F (177°C) and lightly grease a 9 x 5 glass loaf dish, or line a metal loaf pan with parchment paper, otherwise it will cook the outside too quickly.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca, cinnamon, baking powder and salt and whisk very well. Stir in the chopped mint. Add the syrup, lemon juice, vanilla and applesauce and stir until combined well.
- Pour the batter into the greased/floured glass dish. Zest 1 lemon and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until very golden brown and a toothpick comes out with a few dry crumbs (not wet batter) on it and slowly springs back when touched in the center. It will have a crispy exterior but will soften up overnight. It is not a tall loaf, but a short, denser type of hearty loaf, so it doesn't rise extremely high.
- Let cool at least an hour before removing from the dish and cool completely before slicing, or it could fall apart. Garnish with additional lemon zest. Keep stored in the fridge and it becomes amazingly moist the next day!
Love this recipe, can’t wait to try it! Do you think it would be as good if I subbed whole wheat flour, or replaced the almond flour with more oat flour or spelt flour? My best friend is allergic to nuts and I love sharing recipes and treats with her! Please let me know 🙂
Hi Heather! Unfortunately, since I don’t use oil in my recipes, omitting the almond flour isn’t really an option without ruining the recipe. The almond flour in this case is what gives most of the moisture to the loaf. My suggestion, which is the best option that I tell readers to do, is to sub out the almond flour for sunflower “flour”, which is grinding up raw, unsalted sunflower kernels in a food processor into a flour. Grind it as fine as possible before it starts getting damp and turning into a seed “butter”. That should work fairly well for this loaf, just keep in mind, there will be a more pronounced sunflower taste, as almonds are fairly neutral tasting. Just make sure to pack in the flour into the cups, so you get enough, as they will not produce quite as fluffy results as almonds. Let me know if you try it!
Also, I have several nut-free treats. Check out this pumpkin one, it is nut-free and so delicious! https://thevegan8.com/2014/11/22/caramel-crusted-pumpkin-loaf/ and also these I just recently posted, they are made with sun butter. https://thevegan8.com/2016/01/25/nut-free-cinnamon-molasses-granola-bars/
I just made this for a friend, and it is AMAZING. Just the right amount of sweetness! But I will argue against your comment that one slice of filling enough. This won’t last the day! Thank you!
Sorry I missed this Jenny! Haha, too funny! I’m so glad you loved it!!
Amazing breakfast loaf! I made this on a Sunday evening, let it complete cool (per the recipe instructions), and put it in the fridge. It made a delicious breakfast all work-week. I used a very large lemon to get extra zest (LOVE the lemon flavor). I also used fresh mint which provided another delicious flavor. This was a wonderful breakfast treat, with health ingredients. I have now made it twice – it turned out delicious both times!!
Thank you so much Megan for taking the time to leave a review! i’m so happy you loved it!
What a light and flavorful muffin (I made it as a muffin). It was bursting in fresh flavor. I’m new to your blog and this was the first recipe I tried. I’ve never been successful with baking in general, leave alone GF baking. My family loved it so much and wanted me to make more. It was all gone within minutes. Even my picky husband went back for seconds.
That is so amazing to hear, thank you so much for sharing Jan!
I found your site a few months ago and this is the first recipe that I had made. I’ve made it at least a handful of times since! It’s the perfect recipe for the orange and chocolate mint that has taken over much of our garden. My son especially loves this loaf and has a slice every day! I’m trying my best to keep up with him and I have two more loaves currently baking in the oven. I do have a question. I’d also like to try baking the loaf solely with oat flour (and eliminating the almond flour) just because my husband and I are trying to limit our fat intake. Do you think this would work out? Maybe with some additional applesauce?
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear how much you enjoy making this loaf! Unfortunately, if you were to eliminate all the almond flour, it would be extremely dry. Using all oat flour makes things really gummy and dry (unless oil or something is used with it). Using just oat flour and applesauce would be very gummy here. I would suggest playing with the recipe a bit and start out reducing the almond flour, but you don’t want to eliminate it completely, and see how you like it. I would suggest trying 1 1/4 cups (160g) oat flour and 1 cup almond flour and see how you like the texture. It will likely yield a more bread type of texture and should still be plenty moist with the full 1 cup almond flour. If you like those results, you could try to further reduce the almond flour to just 1/2 cup (and 1 3/4 cup oat flour) (I wouldn’t suggest any lower than than though or it’ll be quite dry and gummy). Maybe in that case, up the applesauce to 1/2 cup. These are my best suggestions, let me know how you try it! If you are looking for a low-fat muffin, I have these Zucchini and also these Orange muffins that are fairly low-fat!
Thank you for the suggestions! I will give this a shot. In the meantime I just made two more loaves! Might as well stock up the freezer while mint is in season!