This s**t is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S (literally). I spent the summer of 2012 trying to find the perfect banana bread recipe. You can either use a recipe with oil or butter. What is better? Oil for moisture? Butter for flavor? Which way do you go? I ended up finding a recipe that calls for butter but the result is just as good as if you used oil. Perfect. I use Stephanie Jaworski’s recipe from her famous website “JoyofBaking.com” (link to recipe below). I only make one change. She uses toasted walnuts in hers, and I changed it to chocolate chips. There’s just something about chocolate with banana that kicks a walnut’s ass. I also like the milk chocolate morsels over anything else (especially semi-sweet) because of just the pure chocolate sweetness it adds. But I wouldn’t knock the pairing dark chocolate would bring. Just try it this way first.
Makes 12
I have a habit of mashing the bananas first. Then I mix the dry ingredients together in their bowl. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients into my already mashed banana mixture.
Then, fold the wet into the dry. Mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
Now they are ready for the oven. About 25 minutes at 350. They should just be becoming golden and pass the toothpick test. At this point your kitchen will smell absolutely delightful.
You will never look at banana bread the same. Don’t skip the chocolate. It will be very hard to not eat them right away (as evidenced above). They make the best breakfast or dessert. I wonder if these were what Gwen Stefani had in mind. Probably, because this s**t really is bananas (figuratively).
Tip: This also works for just a loaf of banana bread. Lightly grease loaf pan and cook at the same temperature. Takes about 1 hour.
