Friday, September 25, 2009

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Posted by Erin Wilburn / 7 comments » / bread, breakfast

Banana bread has kind of been floating in and out of my head. I have a memory of baking it with my mom once. While getting my post-workout Saturday latte at the nearby coffee shop, Portland Brew, I always notice their banana bread in these cute little molds. I rarely buy the snacks at coffee shops because I enjoy making stuff like that on my own. The other day my friend Liesl gave me a banana that was pretty ripe, and I already had two that were getting there, and a ripe one in the freezer. At first I was just going to slice it and freeze it for smoothies, but then I realized I’ve never posted a recipe for banana bread. I have a stoneware mini bundt pan I had only used once, so I thought it seemed like a great non-traditional way to bake banana bread, just like the ones at the coffee shop! It’s makes it perfect for giving away, because I ended up with 5 of them. I brought 3 into work, The Boy & I ate one, and gave the other away. I also loved that slicing it gave these small portions, which are great if someone only wants just a bite.

I know there are SO MANY banana bread recipes out there, and I checked to see if I had any bookmarked. I found this one, on my friend Melissa’s blog. I used that recipe as a starting off point, and varied it up just a bit. I used some white whole wheat flour to make it a little healthier. Then I added chocolate chips, to make it unhealthier! Haha.. And I realized I didn’t have enough bananas, so to make up for that I subbed nonfat greek yogurt. I must admit I was a little worried it wouldn’t turn out. But I was proven wrong when this banana bread turned out very moist & delicious! The chocolate chips melted and really paired nicely with the banana flavor. There’s just something so nice about a freshly baked homemade quick bread.

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Chocolate Chips Banana Bread

adapted from Mrs Sac's Purple Kitchen, original recipe from AllRecipes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour (you can just use all-purpose flour if you don't have any wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (I ended up using about 1 2/3 cups mashed banana and 2/3 plain nonfat greek yogurt, because I ran out of banana)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan (or mini bundt pans like mine).

In a large bowl, combine flours, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten, and add in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.