Double Chocolate Banana Bread

For those of you who are looking for mouth water recipes, you should visit The Smitten Kitchen. If her recipes don't make you wish you had all day free just to bake then her photographs and beautiful prose will make you wish you were friends who frequented her kitchen.

Recently she posted a recipe for Double Chocolate Banana Bread and I read her post longingly. The next day my mother drop off two overripe bananas. Can you say fate? This morning I looked the recipe right up. I planned to make it with the kids for their afternoon snack. Then suddenly the sky grew dark and it was bedtime, my favorite... I mean the quietest time of day. While my incredibly awesome husband tucked the kids into bed with stories, I whipped up the recipe.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread
3 medium-to-large very ripe bananas
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips

Heat your oven to 350°F.
Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
Mash bananas in the bottom of a large bowl.
Whisk in melted butter, then maple syrup, egg, and vanilla.
Sift baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa powder into wet ingredients.
Stir dry and wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined.
Stir in chocolate chunks or chips.
Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free.
Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack.

My son's fourth piece.

The Verdict? Chocolate for breakfast anyone? Absolutely delicious. It didn't last past breakfast. It tasted strongly of banana and chocolate but wasn't too sweet. A definite keeper in our house.


This article was shared at My Turn for Us, The Chicken Chick, The Prairie Homestead,  The Backyard Farming Connection, The Self Sufficient Home Acre, The Mind to Homestead, Homemade Mondays, Tilly's Nest, Homegrown and Healthy,