Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread
Everyone has recipes they reinvent time and time again and one of mine is banana bread. Soft, easy to make, and one of my daughter’s top five favorite snack foods, it never gets old. In fact, I am pretty sure I could make the same old banana bread over and over and she would find it just as wonderful as the first time she tried it. The only thing is I like to keep trying new variations. Sometimes it is a new topping, sometimes it is a new add-in, and sometimes it is a new form! This week I decided to sweeten it up and a bit and it was a huge hit.
To add our easy chocolate swirl I used the chocolate chip method I picked up from Cooking Light a few years ago. It is the easiest way to add the chocolate flavor and stir it into the batter. I baked this on a cold rainy day and the whole house smelled like chocolate dipped bananas all afternoon. I’ve never had the house smell quite so heavenly. For snack my kids each ate a slice toasted with butter. They approved of my new variation so this is how I will make it for now. Until it is time for the next variation.
Ingredients
- 8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon good vanilla extract
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed (I mash them in a bowl with a fork)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour a standard 9×5 loaf pan*.
- 2. Mix together butter and sugar until fully combined. Add eggs and vanilla extract, mix well. Add mashed bananas, mix again until completely combined.
- 3. In a separate bowl mix flour, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon.
- 4. Working slowly, stir the flour mixture into egg mixture. Keep stirring until all flour is fully incorporated. The batter may still be a little lumpy from the bananas, this is normal.
- 5. Microwave the chocolate chips in a bowl until melted and smooth. Stir in one cup of the batter and mix until incorporated with the chocolate.
- 6. Pour plain batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Then drizzle the chocolate batter on top and use a knife to swirl the chocolate into the plain batter just a few times. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until top is golden and a cake tester comes out clean.
- 6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, carefully remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack before serving.
- *You can also divide the batter into smaller loaf pans, or mini loaf pans if you want to make smaller breads.
- Freezer Tips: This bread freezes well. If you want to save it for later simply wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it again with an outer layer of aluminum foil. Make sure none of the bread is exposed to air. It will last in the freezer for 2-4 months.
We make your “regular” banana bread almost weekly – excited to try the chocolate swirl version!!
Trying to figure out the chocolate chips parts. Is the 1/2 cup supposed to be divided so that part is mixed with the flour and the other part is microwaved? Thanks!
Nope! Just microwave the entire 1/2 cup. I will clarify!
3 says to mix flour, soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and chocolate chips…and then a later step requires the chocolate chips to be melted? And then stirred into batter? This isn’t making sense.
You are right – a typo. I will fix. Only do the melted chocoLte chips with 1 cup batter and swirl in.
Okay, thanks! Will try this recipe today!