Thursday, February 4, 2010

Chocolate banana bread

No wordy intro for this one, folks. This sweet bread is another holdover from before Europe, and its entire raison d'ĂȘtre was simply that I was craving chocolate + bananas at the time. I modified the recipe from Veganomicon to produce this lighter, lower-fat loaf that’s perfect for breakfast, snacktime, or dessert.

2 large ripe bananas, well mashed
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2T molasses
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, applesauce, oil, sugar, and molasses.



Sift in the flour, cocoa, coffee, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.



Use a wooden spoon to fold the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined (do not overmix), then gently fold in the chocolate chips. You can use semisweet, milk, white, swirled, or just about any type of chip you please.



Transfer the batter to the prepared pan...



...and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.



Invert onto a cooling rack, then flip the bread right side up and let cool completely before slicing. I like to cut it into bite-size pieces for easy snacking. I must say, I still like my peanut butter banana bread better, but if you’re seeking the classic combo of chocolate + banana, this quick bread hits the spot.



Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices). Per slice: 205 calories, 7.3g fat (2g sat), 35g carbs, 3g fiber, 2.7g protein.

If you like this, you might also like…
PB–banana "Elvis" cupcakes
Choc-oat banana walnut cookies
Peanut butter banana bread

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4 comments:

  1. Mmm, that looks a lot better than the traditional banana bread!

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  2. The first time I made this bread, I had two people who I was making it for. One of them LOVE nuts in their banana bread, and the other does not. Soooo, I got an idea. Instead of one big loaf, I made 3 little loafs. One of them was plain, another had chopped almonds, and the third had marshmallows! They were all DELICIOUS! And everyone loved their very own loaf. :)

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  3. Rachel—That was a great (and delicious) solution! Also, I'm glad you made it again and brought it to the party Saturday so I could have some :P It turned out great!

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