When it comes to deciding what is good enough to share here with you, 80% of the time I develop recipes from the depths of my brain, 15% of the time I share classic recipes that I make for my friends and family regularly and about 5% of the time, it is a happy accident that comes from fulfilling a craving.
This banana bread is definitely in that rare 5%.
Here is the situation I was in:
Andrew and I were on the last week of a 6-week fitness challenge at our gym, the home stretch if you will. I also happened to have a lot of smooshy bananas fragrancing (is this a word?) my kitchen because as much as I had great intentions of making breakfast smoothies, the 20* Michigan mornings always seemed to squash my desire in the moment. And the more I could smell those ripe bananas, I REALLY started craving a nice warm slice of banana bread. So rather than freezing the bananas like any good fitness challenger would do, I set out to bake the perfect loaf of banana bread with my 9 ripe bananas (you can thank Costco for that!)
Suffice it to say I basically tortured myself.
I baked several loaves over 2 days – some with chocolate chips and various other add-ins, tweaking the recipe until I got the perfect slice. And like a good fitness challenger, I only tasted a little sliver of each one. LOOK AT ME AND MY SELF CONTROL.
I’m so proud of me. Are you proud of me?
And then I nicely wrapped them up and proceeded to freeze half of each one for another time. Oh did I mention this freezes beautifully?
Who is this human with actual self control around a baked good?
Maybe, just maybe, I took some good habits away from this challenge after all!
Whatever the case, this bread is so good I challenge you to make it and try to share it, or store some away for later- it’s going to be tough. I promise you that!
Whole Wheat Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed banana (about 3 medium bananas)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350*
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In a large bowl, beat together the banana, applesauce, coconut oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla bean paste until combined.
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In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Once combined, slowly add dry ingredients to the banana mixture until both are combined. Then stir in dark chocolate pieces.
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Pour batter into a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Be careful not to over bake. Bread will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.