My kids have an "early release" on Mondays, to give the teachers more prep time. As a result, a lot of our family baking is done on Monday afternoon. I have to believe that most kids love getting their little hands a little dirty with flour and munching on a few extra chocolate chips that dropped innocently on the counter. Besides filling the house with a wonderful smell, and giving us a little time to talk and bake on Monday, baking at this time gives us lunch box treats for the rest of the week.
Since we just couldn't consume the pile of bananas that I bought last week, it was easy to decide what our baking project would be today--the "BEST BANANA BREAD EVER!" my kids have dubbed it. It comes from one of my favorite books ever, A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, also author of one of my favorite blogs, Orangette. I've always loved banana bread, but this recipe almost changed my life, it is THAT good.
I've used the crystallized ginger in the recipe many times, even though I hate trying to finely chop it. Today I got lazy and threw in some minced fresh ginger instead. It tastes as great as ever, but we love ginger around here. The crystallized ginger is definitely less spicy--take your pick.
Banana Bread with Chocolate and Ginger
In a small bowl microwave butter until just melted. Cool slightly.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add chocolate chips and ginger and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
In a medium bowl (have you run out of bowls yet?) lightly beat eggs. Add mashed banana, yogurt, butter and vanilla and stir to mix well. Pour banana mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir gently with rubber spatula, scraping down the sides as needed until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be thick and a little lumpy but there will be no unincorporated flour. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top.
Bake until loaf is a deep shade of golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean--50 minutes to one hour. cool in loaf pan for 5 minutes and then tip onto rack and cool completely before slicing. I dare you to try. It's so good hot!
Since we just couldn't consume the pile of bananas that I bought last week, it was easy to decide what our baking project would be today--the "BEST BANANA BREAD EVER!" my kids have dubbed it. It comes from one of my favorite books ever, A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg, also author of one of my favorite blogs, Orangette. I've always loved banana bread, but this recipe almost changed my life, it is THAT good.
Banana Bread with Chocolate and Ginger
- 6 tbsp (3 oz) unsalted butter
- 2 cups flour
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3 large ripe bananas)
- 1/4 cup well stirred whole milk plain yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
In a small bowl microwave butter until just melted. Cool slightly.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add chocolate chips and ginger and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
In a medium bowl (have you run out of bowls yet?) lightly beat eggs. Add mashed banana, yogurt, butter and vanilla and stir to mix well. Pour banana mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir gently with rubber spatula, scraping down the sides as needed until just combined. Do not over mix. The batter will be thick and a little lumpy but there will be no unincorporated flour. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top.
Bake until loaf is a deep shade of golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean--50 minutes to one hour. cool in loaf pan for 5 minutes and then tip onto rack and cool completely before slicing. I dare you to try. It's so good hot!
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