Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Source: thenibble.com via G on Pinterest

Does anyone else get a bit excited when they see ripe bananas on the counter?  I know I do, and as soon as I saw that I had 3 ripe ones that it meant two words: banana bread!  I'm so glad I'm able to post this recipe tonight! It almost didn't happen because 1. I didn't think we had enough honey and 2. I originally thought I read the recipe called for whole milk when it calls for whole milk yogurt, in other words whole fat yogurt.  Thankfully, my husband saved me and my urge to bake tonight and picked up some yogurt after work. 

I am able to bring to you my first baking pin tonight!  When I pinned it a few days ago, the description simply said "The Best" Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe.  Naturally, I was intrigued, especially after reading the recipe which called for half the amount of flour I was used to, one less egg, and no white sugar at all compared to the regular recipe I'm used to (sans chocolate chips).  I knew I'd make this my first baking pin of the year!

I gathered up my ingredients and measured them out so I'd be ready for each new step since the recipe suggests that you have them readily available to mix.  I don't think I've ever really used my prep bowls to bake before, so I pulled them out.  Felt all fancy using them as I followed along the recipe. :)  I didn't have any baby bananas, just 3 normal sized bananas.  We don't have them in grocery stores here in California unless you go to the Asian markets, so don't feel like you can't use this recipe if you don't have any kind of access to baby bananas.  It's fine if you don't have a sifter, you can use a strainer or a fork or wire whisk for combing the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.  Don't fret if you don't have a stand mixer, I used a hand mixer, and if you don't have that, don't worry!  If you read the last sentence of step 3 in the directions , you can hand mix everything as well!  A piece of information he probably should've mentioned at the beginning. :)



I timed each time I mixed as the directions stated.  When it came to incorporating the flour mixture in with the wet mixture, I poured in the flour mixture when I counted on 1, 3, 5, and 7, (since it wants you to only mix this part for 10 seconds) and then mixed two more seconds so that the flour couldn't be seen anymore.  I added the yogurt and mixed with the hand mixer on the lowest setting, and then switched out to a spatula to fold in the chocolate chips.  This is what my mix looked like:

Since you're only mixing in the yogurt for 5 seconds, you should still see some strips of white in the mixture.  If you didn't grease/butter your bread pan before you started, don't forget to do it before you pour the mixture in your pan!  The mixture filled up the pan!

I set my loaf in the oven for 50 minutes--at 45 minutes, I didn't get a clean toothpick.  After 50 minutes I pulled the loaf out to cool.  If you get a toothpick that is a little dirty when testing the middle of the loaf, you should be fine since you might've hit a banana chunk.  Let the bread cool down for at least 5-10 minutes before you think about cutting into it to taste!  In our house, we keep our loafs in the bread pan so our furry kids (dog and cat) don't try and knock it down from the counter top to eat it-serious!

My loaf definitely cooked faster around the top and edges (as expected) and the color came out a bit darker than what I'm used to.  It wasn't burned at all, I'm thinking it's due to the use of brown sugar vs using regular.  The inside is definitely moist, but I wouldn't say it was particularly fluffy.  The very center didn't cook all the way unfortunately.  It wasn't "dough" but it was beyond a moist consistency.  I recommend splitting up the mix into two bread pans, which might help with the very center part of the loaf.  I'll definitely be trying this recipe again that way and will be sure to update with that attempt.

The verdict: It is tasty, but not "the best" chocolate chip banana bread we've ever had.  Maybe we should try the baby bananas?  My husband and kids thought it was tasty, but probably because of the chocolate chips more than anything else.  I really wish they had comments turned on for this recipe to see what other readers thought.

Maybe you'll have a better outcome than we did!