This banana bread recipe is my trusty stand-by. I don’t think I have even tried a different recipe for over 10 years because this one is just about perfect… if you like chocolate with bananas, that is. Which, of course, I do, because chocolate makes nearly everything better!
When I was in college, the dining service had these giant banana chocolate chip muffins which were awe-some. I still crave them occasionally and have tried for years to replicate them. (So far, I’m still working on it… ) I loved those creamy chunks of chocolate dotting a fluffy, homemade banana muffin. But, somehow the same doesn’t hold true for banana bread – I just don’t like chunks of chocolate in my banana bread. I’m not quite sure why, but it just doesn’t work out the same…
So, this recipe is the perfect solution. The chocolate chips get melted and incorporated into the batter. It all gets swirled together to create a marbled effect. The result is a beautiful swirly loaf of banana bread that has rich chocolate flavor mixed right in. The bread slices cleanly, both showing off the lovely marbled effect, while allowing you to spread a nice smooth slather of butter over the slice before eating. Yum, yum!
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp butter, softened
- 1½ cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
- 2 eggs
- ⅓ cup light sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8½ by 4½ inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
- Lightly spoon flour into measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk; set aside.
- Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer a medium speed until well blended. Add banana, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract; beat until blended. Add the flour mixture and stir with a spoon, just until moist.
- Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute or until nearly melted. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to the chocolate, stirring until mixed.
- Spoon the chocolate batter alternately with the plain batter into the prepared loaf pan. Swirl the batters together using a knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in pan, then remove loaf and cool completely on a wire rack.
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light’s Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
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