Author Notes
Near my alma mater, Azusa Pacific University, there is a frozen yogurt shop called 21 Choices. Their frozen yogurt was the creamy kind, almost like soft serve. Although they have 21 different flavors of yogurt, they offer five each day that with toppings pre-mixed into the yogurt, yielding seemingly endless choices in their arsenal. You know it's a good day when one of the choices is their banana-graham-cracker, which tastes very similar to banana bread. I almost always add dark chocolate to it, which they chop from a bar. It gives you these great pieces of varying size throughout your yogurt.
So of course when I set out to make banana bread, I have to have those dark chocolate pieces in there. Mine is a little denser and more cake-like, which I prefer so that you can take it with you as an on-the-go breakfast or snack. It won't be crumbling in your hands as you try to eat it. Banana bread is very easy to make, so this will be quick and fun.
Recipe adapted slightly from The Kitchn:
http://www.thekitchn.com... —Sarah Wesley
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Ingredients
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1
stick of unsalted butter, softened
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1 cup
white sugar
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2
eggs
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3
very ripe bananas
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1/4 cup
milk
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1 teaspoon
vanilla
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2 cups
flour
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1 teaspoon
baking soda
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1/2 teaspoon
salt
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1
dark chocolate bar
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter or spray your loaf pan with nonstick spray.
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Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl or KitchenAid until fluffy. Add the eggs and whisk until combined and smooth. Add milk and vanilla and stir to combine.
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Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork to your desired consistency. I prefer a pretty good mash with a few bigger banana chunks still intact. Whisk into the batter.
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Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt) to the batter and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon. Do not over mix! Stir until just combined.
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Chop your chocolate bar into pieces that look good to you. I like a variety of small and large pieces, along with the "dust" that flakes off the knife while chopping. Fold into the batter with your spoon or spatula. Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan.
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Bake for one hour. The top should be dark brown, with yellow showing through any cracks. Insert a tooth pick (or in my case a skewer because I ran out of tooth picks). It should come out clean(is). This cake is moist so if some crumbs come out with your tooth pick, don't worry. As long as their not still dough or liquid, it should be done.
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Cool for 10-15 minutes. Getting the loaf out is easier the more cooled it is. I recommend putting a plate on top of the loaf, flipping it upside down, and carefully rolling it right side up after taking off the pan.
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