Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

 

I’m going to make a confession, I don’t actually like bananas, they terrify me and I’ve no idea why, it’s just one of those weird food aversions that I’ve got. Present me with a raw banana and I’ll run away from you screaming!

But that’s where this banana bread comes in. This stuff is an absolute game changer and before I started making this, I hadn’t been near a banana, let alone eaten one, for the best part of 10 years (and that’s a looong time).

To give you an idea of just how good this is, imagine the gooiest, moistest chocolate muffin you’ve ever eaten, and times that by 100, this bread is seriously that good.

So moist, so gooey and so moreish.

While scrolling banana recipes on Pinterst in the hope that I’d find something that could trick me into eating bananas, I found this beauty from Cookie+Kate, with a few adaptations here and there and more loaves than I’d like to admit later, I’d cracked it and made something with bananas that I couldn’t resist.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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Prep Time: 15 mins           Cook Time: 1 hour         Total: 1hr 15 mins

INGREDIENTS

• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• ¼ cup clear runny honey*
• 2 eggs*
• 2 bananas, mashed with a fork
• ¼ cup milk*
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1¾ cups plain flour (white or wholewheat)
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips, plus extra for decoration

METHOD

• Set your oven to 165°C (about 140°C in a fan oven), and grease a medium (roughly 9×5) loaf tin with some oil.
• Mix the oil and honey together with a fork and then add the eggs, milk and bananas.
• Add the bicarb, vanilla, and cinnamon and whisk again with a fork.
• Using a wooden spoon, fold in the flour and the chocolate chips.
• Pour the mixture into the tin and sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
• Bake for at least 55 minutes, checking with a knife whether the mixture is cooked, if it is still sticky and wet when you take out the knife, turn the temperature down slightly and bake for another 10 minutes.
• Leave until cool to slice, but serve warmed up to really make the most of those chocolate chips!

*This recipe can be made vegan by using all maple syrup, substituting the eggs for flax eggs and using non-dairy milk.

If you make this recipe, let me know how it turned out for you!