Monday, November 09, 2009

Mmm...Monday: Banana Bread with Chocolate

I've had a couple of requests for my banana bread recipe recently (previously mentioned on the blog here and here). This is my go-to quick bread, my favorite way to use up overripe bananas. It's a big hit with the guys at Steve's work :) No pictures to entice you, unfortunately, as I haven't made it lately.

The original credit for the brilliance of putting chocolate on banana bread goes to the Mahaney women over at GirlTalk--ever since printing off this recipe from their blog a few years ago, I've become firmly committed to the belief that the ONLY way to eat banana bread is with chocolate either in it or on top of it. I've changed the recipe quite a bit, though, including recent attempts to "healthy-ify" it. It's a pretty flexible recipe, so I'll note variations that have worked for me.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze

1/2 c. softened butter (or melted coconut oil)
3/4 c. sugar (half brown/half white, optional--or I have also used sucanat)
2 eggs
1/2 c. sour cream (or plain yogurt)
1 t. vanilla
3 overripe bananas, mashed
1 3/4 c. whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 - 1 t. salt

Preheat oven to 325*. Beat butter/oil and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream, vanilla and bananas and beat until blended. Stir together dry ingredients and add to wet mixture until blended (do not overmix). Pour into greased bundt pan and bake at 325* for 45-50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

To glaze, melt 1/2 c. chocolate chips and 3 T butter in microwave (on 30% power) or on stovetop (over low heat). Pour over top of bread.

Variations:
1 large (9x5) loaf plus six muffins: Stir 1 c. chocolate chips into the batter. Bake loaf for 40-50 minutes and muffins for 18-20 minutes, both at 325*. (It's really not enough batter for two loaves, but a little too much for just one. This works well if you want to give the loaf to someone, but still have a little bit leftover for yourself!)

Mini-muffins: Bake for 10-12 minutes at 325* and dip tops in chocolate glaze when cooled. (Yields about 4 dozen--but the recipe halves nicely.)


Related:
Started Something
Love to Be Asked
Mmm...Monday: Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake

Bonus: If you're looking for more recipes for healthy-ish sweets, here's a great recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It already calls for whole wheat flour; I use olive or coconut oil instead of vegetable oil and sucanat instead of sugar. Yum! (And if you ever get tired of banana bread...another great use for overripe bananas is Banana Oatmeal Power Cookies! from the same blog.)

8 comments:

CRICKET said...

I am going to try this, have been looking for a banana bread with chocolate recipe but first I have to make pumpkin loaf as promised to the kiddos.

Kelly said...

Soooo funny!!! I have some bananas I need to use, and I JUST pulled this recipie up today from an e-mail you sent me a while back. Sadly, I need to get some sour cream first... :)

Unknown said...

I have never put chocolate on top of banana bread, just chocolate chips inside. So this sounds like a great idea! Your recipe is similar to mine, I just don't have sour cream in mine. Banana bread tastes amazing when baked with coconut oil!!!!

Anna said...

Chocolate in banana bread is the only way to go!

Kelly said...

So...I remembered to buy sour cream today. :) The piece of still-warm bread I just ate was delightful.

I miss you!

Susanna said...

This is a great recipe! Next time I'm going to convert it to a soaked recipe by soaking in the oil and kefir (or yogurt). I've been wanting a soaked banana bread recipe, and I think this one can work. Thanks for sharing! (I found your blog thru the crockpot carnival. :)

Susanna said...

I just wanted to let you know that my soaking experiment worked OK, but not great. It's hard to stir the "soaked" portion the next morning b/c it's so hard, so you end up w/ chunks of it in the final product. Walnuts and choc. chips help to camouflage this, but still not great. So I think I'll go back to the recipe w/o soaking. It's still a healthy banana bread recipe!

Amy said...

hmm, bummer. thanks for letting me know! what if you ran it through a blender after soaking? (I have blenders on the brain because I'm researching Christmas gifts :)