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| A damp, dense loaf of chocolate-banana goodness. Buddha wants a bite. |
Being thrifty, I always save peeled, gone-too-far bananas and store them in Ziplock bags in the freezer to use as smoothie and banana bread fodder. When I opened my freezer this morning, a bag of frozen bananas fell out and I took that as a sign from the kitchen gods.
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| The Loaf, cooling on the windowsill. |
Banana Bread is the quintessential American recipe: fast, easy and tasty. Since chocolate and bananas share a natural affinity, I decided to let them play together in this recipe. The bitter chocolate balances and slightly dominates the ripe banana’s cloying sweetness. This moist, dense loaf is a no-brainer for breakfast, but you can easily transform it into Dessert by warming a slice and serving it topped with a scoop of vanilla, chocolate, banana soy ice cream, and perhaps a drizzle of chocolate or raspberry sauce
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.- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) Earth Balance, room temperature
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 T banana extract (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 3 T soy, rice or hemp milk
- 3 large, very ripe bananas, mashed
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
Optional additions:
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup toasted or untoasted nuts
- ½ cup dried cherries
Serves 10
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Grease a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and Earth Balance until light and fluffy. Add cocoa, extract and milk and mix well.
3. Mix in the mashed bananas, then add the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt, a bit at a time. Mix until just combinezd: do not overmix. If using optional additions, stir them in by hand at this point.
4. Pour batter into pan and bake 55-60 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before inverting and removing from pan.
