Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Original Recipe HERE

Not a healthy banana bread.  There is no justifying that this is "good" for you - at least, for your waistline.  So good for your spirit, though.  I'd mess around with substitutes for the copious amounts of butter and sugar, trying to make this less guilt-inducing...but I fear then it would lose its essence.  So I will relegate it to the "occasional treat" list and enjoy every morsel when I do have it.

I assume these could be made into muffins and will probably try that next time.  Helps with portion control.  As with almost every baked good, this tasted better the next day: the flavors were stronger and the bread had "settled" and was a bit denser.

 

Ingredients

3 medium or large bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup butter (one stick), melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon [optional]
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips [I used semi-sweet mini chips]

 

Directions
(1) Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease a 9x5" loaf pan.
(2) Mash bananas thoroughly in a large bowl.
(3) Whisk melted butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla into the bananas.
(4) In a separate bowl, sift together baking soda, salt, cinnamon, flour, and cocoa powder.
(5) Add dry ingredients to wet; stir until just combined.
(6) Stir in chocolate chips.
(7) Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 55-65 minutes (minute took almost 65) or until a knife inserted into the center comes out batter-free.
(8) Cool bread in pan for 10-15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack.  Once fully cooled, store wrapped in foil.

Kid Participation:
* Mash bananas
* Crack egg
* Whisk wet ingredients
* Add dry ingredients to wet
* Pour batter into pan