Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I've decided that not all banana breads are created equal. This is after years of experimentation. Partially what I've decided is that I like zucchini bread MORE so banana bread pales (literally) in comparison.

But still, I love a good banana bread with chocolate chips, so this is part Ruthy/part web pineapple banana bread and I love it.

But if you don't like pineapple, go look up a boring, not as sweet, moist and chewy banana bread and be happy. That is my Tuesday wish for you.

Here we go:  This original recipe is from Allrecipes.com and is attributed to Mary Watkins of Minnesota. Thank you, Mary!

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 16 oz can crushed pineapple, drained and patted dry with paper towels
  • 2 cups mashed ripe bananas
Note: Cute kid is not a requirement, but always welcome at Ruthy's house!


Oh, no. My help has now magnified itself. There is a TODDLER in the room!!!

Put all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix with spoon. Add in oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix by hand or with electric mixer, but don't overmix.

Mash bananas at some point here. I had my handy-dandy trusty 18 month old apprentice help:

Really ripe bananas work best for banana bread. If you were making banana cream pie, a Herne favorite...  Then you would want firmer, just ripe bananas. But for bread:  use the dark, almost mushy variety.
And here is our helper, mushing away!

How adorable is he????

While big brother earnestly works at his "work station":


Add in the bananas and the patted-dry pineapple. (The reason I pat it dry is to use MORE pineapple than traditional recipes and not have to cut the oil. As always, it's all about ratio, right????)

Mix well and then add a cup and a little or chopped chocolate. I use the Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate chips and cut them up because I love Ghirardelli chocolate, but the chips are kind of BIG for bread. They're perfect for cookies. So you can either chop them up, leave them whole, or put them through your food processor just a little... Enough to 'cut them down to size', kind of like Mary Connealy does to me.

Brat.

Pour into two greased and floured bread pans OR use for muffins and pour into greased and floured or lined muffin pans. Big muffins work way better than small because of the chocolate chip content.

Bake at 350 degrees in center of oven if possible.... Usually this takes between 45-65 minutes, depending on size of pan. A 9" pan will bake quicker... 8", longer. Muffins are more in the 20 minute and up range depending on size.

These are luscious alone or with cream cheese frosting and or filling. To fill the cooled bread, simply slice the loaf in half from short side to short side, spread the cream cheese frosting, then replace top and either frost...

or not.

Wonderful!

12 comments:

  1. My daughter made Chocolate Chip Banana Bread when she was home during the summer, but without the pineapple. I'll have to pass this recipe along to her.

    Me? I love chocolate. Especially Ghiradelli 60% chips (I keep a 3# bag in my pantry at all times.) (For emergencies.) - but I've never turned that corner of enjoying fruit and chocolate combined.

    Fruit? - oh yeah. Nice, fresh fruit anytime.

    Chocolate? - of course. Goes without sayin'.

    Combination? I'll leave that to my dear daughter. She has to buy her own chocolate, though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ruthy, I love seeing your grandchildren working in the kitchen with you!

    I always had at least one child standing on a chair next to me while I was baking, and they learned early how to break eggs, etc. Now they bake the cookies instead of asking me -

    Train 'em up right!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yum, Ruthy! I love banana bread!! I add extra oil to make it nice and moist. So I'll have to try this with pineapple!

    Jan, I laughed out loud at having chocolate for emergencies. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. So easy a kid can do it. YOU ARE KILLING ME. I love choco chip banana bread.

    I think you need to do a week of healthy low cal yummy foods. Like January 1st when everyone starts back on their diets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. My favorite chocolate besides Ruthy's sponge candy is Lindt Dark Chocolate with sea salt.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good idea, Tina! It can help us all if we concentrating on things that don't have oil and chocolate chips! :)

    BTW, don't look at my post tomorrow if you're thinking healthy thoughts. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Never thought to put pineapple in my banana bread. Chocolate chips, though--that goes without saying.

    Jan, I don't keep chocolate chips for (ahem) emergencies. Not when I can keep a full bar of organic fair-trade dark chocolate in a kitchen drawer. Just one square can turn a day around.

    Best part? Hubby won't eat dark chocolate, so it's always right where I left it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Valerie, I appreciate the thought but one bar... I'd be nervous that catastrophe would LOOM and I'd be caught short. I too keep a 3 # bag from Sam's... And I keep them in a canister on the counter. We teach adding and re-enforce good behavior with my M&M and Chocolate chip canister...

    And every now and again my hand sneaks in. ;)


    Teeena, I'm hoping to make sponge candy this weekend. I owe two people in Seekerville and I want some to bribe my children not to quarrel over the holiday weekend.

    Whatever it takes!

    Beth hates this with pineapple. You can make it without, you just.... umm.... leave it out, LOL!

    So for her, we don't add the fruit. But I love the pineapple, chocolate mix. Divine. Like a fine chocolate divine.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh, oh, oh.... Lindt dark with sea salt.

    So delicious. So wonderful. And hardly a little bad for you. Hardly.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Valerie - Yes, my chocolate is for emergencies only.

    Of course, emergencies happen quite regularly around here - like when I finish a scene in my WIP, or the mailman comes, or the dog has to go out, or my son drives off in the car...

    Ruthy, I think you owe more than two Seekerville people sponge candy...don't you remember? Didn't you promise to send some out west?

    Or at least the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  11. The beauty of the really really good chocolate is that one piece can satisfy.

    I don't have grandkids nearby to bribe, so things may change. SweetPea, 20 months old, only visits about once every 4-6 weeks and we're not allowed to bribe her with candy yet.

    Yet.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love that "yet," V. :)

    I never will forget my husband's grandmother feeding my first baby a bite of the filling out of a pecan pie!! I about had a fit. I thought he'd never eat baby food jar of peas or green beans again.

    :)

    ReplyDelete