Oh heyyyy banana bread! It’s been a while… I’ve missed u :)
I’m going to have to say, this summer has been pretty rough in terms of my health and well-being. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve been having so much fun traveling (hereee), hanging out with friends, and relaxing by the poolside. However, I have literally destroyed my diet. I’ve been eating tons of ice cream, burgers, and chocolate… last month, the only things I ate one day were french fries, a couple cubes of watermelon, and a giant ice cream sundae! My body did not like that; I felt sick and bloated from the ice cream, and I could barely function because I had literally no energy.
So, this past week, I’ve made it a goal to eat healthier and work out a little more in preparation for my upcoming #summermarchingbandgrind. I’ve been following a couple workout videos on YouTube, going on walks outside (yes, even in the crazy 100 degree Texas weather), and cutting out a lot of sugar from my diet. Obviously, I still treat myself, but I’m making sure not to skip meals and putting only wholesome foods into my body!
I ended up purchasing a ton of bananas to use for acai bowls and smoothies. However, of course there was no way I was going to eat so many bananas myself, so the first thing that came to mind was to whip up a loaf of banana bread! Overripe bananas are perfect for banana bread. This is a recipe I’ve had saved in my notes app for the longest time! I was so so excited – I hadn’t made banana bread in ages.
This banana bread is one of the easiest desserts to make. It took me less than 10 minutes to make the batter, and I just had to pop it in the oven to let it do its magic while I watched an episode of Stranger Things. Then, after waiting a little bit longer, I took it out, let it cool, and dug in! The chocolate was all melted and gooey, and it was even more perfect enjoyed alongside a refreshing cup of iced coffee.
I used to not be the biggest fan of banana bread, actually. I hated the taste of bananas for the longest time, and I ended up resorting to physically forcing myself to get used to the flavor! Now, I can’t imagine what I was thinking. Bananas are the perfect creamy texture, they’re sweet, and add the perfect unique taste to any dish! Also, they’re versatile enough so that you can enjoy them almost any time of the day, and add them to virtually anything. I especially love them in bread, oatmeal, and smoothies.
What are your favorite ways to use bananas? I’m actually pretty curious. I’ve still got a couple more to use up, so I really want to experiment and try new things.
How to make the best chocolate chip banana bread:
- The bananas should be OVERRIPE. They should have no green (unlike the ones in the background of these photos), and *ideally* should be sorta squishy and have a couple brown spots. This link explains how to ripen a banana quickly (I’ve never tried these methods, but Spoon University is a pretty reliable source so fingers crossed that they do work!!). But pls pls don’t use a completely rotten banana!
- A mix of brown and granulated sugar is the most ideal sugar combination, in my opinion. However, if you don’t have brown sugar on hand, you could always substitute with equal amounts of granulated sugar (and vice versa). The brown sugar gives adds to the bread another layer of complexity, but it would still be delicious without.
- The butter should be at room temp! I emphasize this in almost every single recipe I have involving eggs and melted butter, because I HAVE MADE SCRAMBLED EGGS IN MY BATTER BEFORE and it is not fun! I usually have to let the butter sit out for a bit after microwaving. Usually, I’ll melt the butter before I do anything else. Then, I’ll preheat the oven, mix the dry ingredients, etc., and by that time the butter should be cool enough.
- The vegetable oil is there to keep the banana bread extra moist, because it’s in the oven for around an hour, and you don’t want it to dry out! I’ve seen people add yogurt or sour cream instead, but I didn’t have those on hand. I figured most people have vegetable oil in their pantries already, so why go out to buy that extra ingredient?
- Chocolate chunks are 100% the way to go for honestly any recipe. I didn’t have any on hand this time, but I recommend buying a whole bar of chocolate and chopping it up with a knife. And please add all the chocolate you want – I specified an amount in the recipe card, but feel free to disregard it :)
Again, this is such an easy recipe that I really don’t have to do much explaining! Win-win for both of us :)
I hope y’all enjoyed this week’s recipe!
I’m thinking of doing more life-related, personal posts in the future. In the past, I’ve felt obligated to post unique recipes every week, and then gotten burned out really fast. I think I used to do “coffee date” related posts (I think I only did two lol), and they were both deleted (I don’t know why I deleted them…?) I really want to start those back up again, because I don’t share much about my personal life outside of baking on the blog.
Thoughts?
Anyways, I hope you guys have a great Monday and a great rest of the week! If you need me, you’ll find me by the poolside, chilling with my dog, and soaking in the few precious weeks of summer I have left :)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (1/2 cup)
- ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 overripe bananas, mashed
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup of chocolate chips (or more, if you want ;D)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line a 9x5 inch bread pan with parchment paper, and set aside for later.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- In a larger bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Make sure the butter is at room temperature! One by one, mix in eggs until fully incorporated; then, add vanilla and vegetable oil, stirring until smooth. Fold in mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared bread pan. Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan, then let cool for at least an hour before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
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