Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Before I had kids I made Banana bread au natural.  With bananas and if I was feeling adventurous sometimes nuts.  Then a good friend of mine convinced me to add chocolate chips.  I have never looked back and my children like it no other way.  I use the standard Betty Crocker recipe from the 1996 book.  I actually have three Betty Crocker recipe books and use them all lovingly.  That is a totally different story all together.  Today it's just about chocolate chip banana bread. 

Sorry my flour container is so low, I've been doing a lot of baking lately.

What you will need:

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softned

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cup mashed very ripe bananas (3-4 large)*

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

*Bananas should be as dark as they are in the picture or darker.  The darker they are the sweeter your bread will be. Don't be afraid of a few bruises.  If you have medium sized bananas I recomend using no less than 4 bananas. 

First move the oven rack down to the lowest position, so the tops of your pans will be in the center of the oven.  Then preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease two loaf pans. 

Mix the softened butter and sugar together. You may use an electric mixer here if you like.  I start with a spatula and end with a spatula.  It's just less mess for me to clean up.  

Then add the eggs and mix well.

Next add the bananas, milk and vanilla and stir until fully incorporated. 

In a separate bowl combine all of the dry ingredients, flour, salt, and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just moistened. 

Then fold in the chocolate chips.  Be careful not to over stir.  You can skip this step.  I won't judge you, but unless you have an aversion to chocolate or you're allergic to it I don't know why you would skip it? 

Divide batter evenly into the two loaf pans.  Bake for 1 hour or until a knife stuck in the center comes out clean.  You can smell when these are just about done.  About 15 minutes before they are finished the yummy banana goodness will knock you over when you enter the kitchen. 

Once done allow to cool for 10 minutes and then remove from the pans cool on a wire rack.  If you don't have a wire rack a plate or wooden cutting board will work just fine.  The idea is to remove the bread from the pan so it doesn't continue to cook.

And you're done.  If you eat this warm I must warn you that the melted chocolate chips are very messy but so worth it.  My kids prefer this warmed in the microwave, for breakfast with butter melted on every slice.  Definitely not something we do everyday, but a wonderful treat.  Enjoy!

You will find the recipe card here.

References:

Betty Crocker's New Cookbook; 1996 General Mills