Banana Bread

The number one reason why I buy bananas

Do you associate certain foods with particular memories or stories? Banana bread is one of those for me, linked to quite an array of experiences from over the years.

In middle school, a woman from church brought us a loaf, and it was a pivotal moment in my life, because for the first time ever I was exposed to banana bread with chocolate chips in it, and it's been a crucial ingredient ever since. In college, I walked into my apartment one afternoon to about a dozen bunches of bananas and some flustered roommates, after a club sport tournament cancellation led to us suddenly possessing enough bananas to start a frozen banana stand (we did not, but we did bake a lot of banana bread). A few years ago, I traveled to Oxford, England, and learned another game-changing trick for upgrading your banana bread--I'll leave that one for another post, it deserves its own.

Here's my take on this classic treat!

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Banana Bread

Makes one large loaf or a 9x12in rectangular pan

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter, softened

• ¾ cup brown sugar

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla

• ¼ cup plain or honey/vanilla greek yogurt

• 2 cups mashed overripe bananas (3-4 bananas)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• 1-2 tbsp ground flax seed (optional)

• ½ cup chopped walnuts

• ½ cup chocolate chips/chunks

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a 9x5” loaf pan or a 9x12" rectangular pan.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream together softened butter and brown sugar until fully combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well incorporated. Stir in mashed bananas and greek yogurt.

3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ground flax seed, cinnamon, and salt (all the dry ingredients).

4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; mix with spatula just until no dry spots remain; don’t overmix!

5. Add in chopped walnuts and chocolate chips/chunks and stir just until combined.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven, for 60 to 65 minutes if using loaf pan, 30-35 minutes if using rectangular pan. To check if it’s done, you can stick a toothpick into the middle and it should come out clean (unless you hit a chocolate chip, but that doesn’t count).

7. Let cool for 15 minutes before taking out of the pan, then enjoy!

Notes:

• If you have a lot of overripe bananas and don't have time to bake bread yet, you can freeze them! Peel the bananas and put them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. When you're ready to use them, just defrost--they'll come out of the freezer already mushy.

• A trick for mashing your fresh overripe bananas--pull back the peel on just one side of the banana, and use a spoon to scrape the exposed side of the banana into a bowl, bit by bit. Much more efficient than having to smash whole bananas dropped into a bowl, hoping a big chunk didn't dodge your efforts.

• I like to use dark chocolate chunks, mini chocolate chips, or chopped up dark chocolate bars for my loaves. The dark chocolate is not too sweet so that I can justify eating it for breakfast without a sugar crash, and the mini chips or chopping option more evenly distributes the chocolate into smaller specks throughout every bite.

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