Banana Bread, again? you ask.

Fair enough. I have written more posts about Banana Bread than anything else because I always have ripe bananas in my freezer. Once our bananas reach a certain brown speckles to yellow skin ratio into the freezer they go. When I have enough, I whip up a Banana treat. Occasionally, I’ll bake muffins sometimes a cake but as my repetitive posts reveal, most often a bread. Something else my banana bread diatribe proves is how many ways you can make banana bread.

I like my Banana Bread to be rich which is why I used a combination of butter and yogurt. Ripe bananas are already sweet, but I want just a bit more with a caramel overtone, hence the brown sugar. Finally, it has to have a bit of chocolate. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. You can substitiute dark chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate. You decide.

BANANA BREAD

• 5 medium very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• ½ cup butter, melted
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

THE STEPS:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.
2. Grease a 9×5″ loaf pan with spray release and line with parchment paper.
3. Place bananas, butter, brown sugar, yogurt, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in an another bowl.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat banana mixture on low speed  until well combined, about 1 minute.
6. Add eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed until fully combined, about 1 minute each.
7. Add dry ingredients in 2 batches, beating on low after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl if necessary, until no flour is showing.
8. Fold in chocolate chips.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a spatula.
10. Bake until top is dark golden brown and cracked, sides will pull away from pan edges. A tester inserted into center of bread should come out clean, 65-70 minutes.
11. Cool in pan on a wire rack 20 minutes.
12. Remove bread from pan and continue to cool on a rack.
13. Cool completely before slicing.

THE LOVE: Try this BANANA BREAD with a slab of butter, a smear of peanut butter or a plop of jam. Better yet, try it with all three!

Thanks for reading.