Simply put, banana bread is a staple. I mean, who doesn’t love banana bread? I’ve had so many people confess their love for banana bread to me in casual conversation, and many ask me to make it for them or for my recipe so they can indulge in it at any time. I have spent A LOT of time and countless attempts to perfect this banana bread recipe. Being a staple, I had to get it just right. However, it is against my belief to bake any type of remotely sweet thing without adding chocolate to it in some way. Okay, it’s not REALLY against my belief…but it kinda is. Anyway, I just couldn’t let this banana bread come to fruition without the addition of these semi-sweet mini chocolate chips. It’s not a whole lot, but it just takes this from a good banana bread, to a fantastic one. Let’s get right to it so you can try this for yourself and fall in love with banana bread all over again!
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup butter, melted, + 1 tbsp softened
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips (can be omitted or amount lessened if you don’t like things too sweet)
*makes 1 loaf*
Directions:
1. Preheat oven 335℉
2. Stir the 2 1/2 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl with a fork
3. In a separate, large mixing bowl, mash the bananas with the fork.
*Tip* If you have bananas about to go bad but you don’t have the ingredients for the bread, or if you want fresh bananas to ripen faster to use in the bread, you can put them in the freezer and they will be perfect for banana bread when you’re ready!
4. Mix the melted butter, vanilla, and brown sugar into the bananas
5. Mix the eggs one at a time, into the banana mixture, until well mixed.
6. Mix in the flour mixture, one half at a time, mixing after each half is added, until just combined. Over mixing will make the bread hard. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula between additions to make sure you get everything mixed in.
7.Stir in the chocolate chips with the rubber spatula
8.Grease the loaf pan well with the 1 tbsp of softened butter. I find the best way to do this is to wash and dry your hands, grab the piece of softened butter, and just wipe it all around in the pan, being sure to get the corners and the bottom.
9.Put the remaining 1 tbsp of flour into the greased pan and shake it around until it is completed coated. Tap the excess flour out of the pan.
10. Scoop the banana bread batter into the greased and flour coated pan.
11. Smooth the top of the batter and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
12. After 40 minutes, cover with tinfoil and continue baking for an additional 35 minutes, for a total of 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean of batter.
13. When the banana bread is done, cool for 5 minutes and then turn it out onto a cooling rack.
*Tip*When the bread is completely cooled, I like to store it wrapped tightly in aluminum foil. When you slice a piece off, press the foil tightly against the exposed end before wrapping the rest of it. I found that keeping it in a ziploc bag or an airtight container, makes it kind of mushy after a day or so. The aluminum foil seems to allow just enough air flow to keep the texture of the bread fresh.
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