Can you include banana bread as one of your daily fruit requirements? I think it’s the perfect breakfast given it includes fruit and grains. Ok, I may be stretching it a little but this chocolate chunk banana bread is so good that you’ll be considering it for breakfast. And don’t forget it’s easy to wrap up and take to work.
Banana bread is great because you can use those over ripened bananas that no one will eat and save you from throwing them out. You can put any over ripened bananas into the freezer until you have enough to bake with. The outer skins will turn black and not look appetizing but the banana inside will be fine to use in any of your baking.
When I found we had some very ripe bananas, it was time to make banana bread with the addition of chocolate, of course! The chocolate chips create bursts of chocolate throughout the bread and it tastes rich and moist. They are also easy to work with because you don’t need to melt them first, just add them in at the end. I should add that within two hours of baking this, half of it had disappeared…and it wasn’t me.
In a bowl, combine the softened unsalted butter, eggs and sugar.
Mix until smooth. Make sure your butter is truly softened. Mine wasn’t quite there but thought it would blend well when it was blended with the mixer. It didn’t blend as well as it should so think ahead and make sure your butter HAS softened.
Take the bananas and slice them into a deep bowl. Mash them up against the sides of the bowl trying to break up any large pieces. Add the vanilla extract and half of the banana mash to the batter bowl and blend using a mixer. Once mixed, add in the other half of the banana mash and blend again.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.
Add the flour mixture to your bowl of batter in three or four stages using the mixer until each addition is blended.
It will get very thick in consistency.
Lastly, add the sour cream and chocolate chips to the batter bowl. Gently fold them in until they are incorporated into the mix.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9×5 inch loaf pan. You can use butter or Pam.
Bake for 60 minutes and check with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean. Continue baking a little while longer if it’s not completely done.
Let it cool a little before unmolding and then let it continue cooling on a rack.
Once completely cooled, it will be easier to slice. It made about 16 yummy slices.
Here’s the full recipe:
½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
3 cups of ripe bananas, diced and mashed (about 4 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup sour cream
6 ounces or about ¾ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Combine the softened butter, sugar and eggs and blend with mixer. Add in vanilla and half of banana mash and mix again. After blended, add in the other half of banana mash and blend again with mixer.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cocoa powder. Add this flour mixture to the batter in 3 or 4 stages blending with the mixer after each addition. Once completely blended, fold in the sour cream and chocolate chips until well mixed.
Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9×5 inch loaf pan and bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 60 minutes. After 60 minutes, check with a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf to see if it comes out clean. Continue baking if not ready. Cool in the pan slightly before unmolding. Continue cooling on rack and slice when completely cooled. Makes approximately 16 slices.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I found a tip for ripening bananas on a fellow chocolate foodie’s blog. If you put bananas in a sealed paper bag, they will ripen faster. I had no idea.
Read why that happens at The Well Tempered Chocolatiers blog post, http://thewelltemperedchocolatier.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/banana-bananer/
Looks tasty, will have to try out this recipe!
It is good. It was almost all gone within a day and that wasn’t due to me. Really!
YUM! Love the addition of sour cream. It appears that I’ve bred monkeys, not children so was short on bananas. Cut back on the sugar and used a cup of sweetened coconut to replace missing cup of banana. Soooooo good. Thanks 8chocolate!
freeze over ripe bananas and they will turn black, but remain good
I use a Nigella Lawson (UK celeb chef) recipe for banana bread but could easily throw in a few choc pieces and replace 1 tablespoon of flour with cocoa powder.
Nigella’s recipe doesn’t have sour cream, so possibly fewer calories. It is on her website - recommended - her choc choc-chip muffin recipe is excellent too
Nigella’s recipes