A couple of days ago, I noticed “yet another” crop of overripe bananas languishing in the fruit bowl. I had recently made Banana Bread, Banana Cake, Banana Oatmeal Muffins, Banana Chip Bread and although I love all banana related foods, I was in the mood for something different and I was craving chocolate…hmmm….Chocolate Banana Bread!
So, basically what I did was take my grandmother’s Banana Bread recipe, substitute 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup cocoa, white sugar for brown sugar and add some chocolate chips. The resulting Chocolate Banana Bread is a deliciously, decadent chocolate loaf with a hint of banana flavour. It was so good and would be perfect with a hot cup of coffee/tea or an icy cold glass of milk.
You may notice that my mashed bananas look quite dark. That’s because I had planned to make this bread the day before, and life happened…lol. So I just covered the bananas that I had already mashed with plastic wrap and stored them in the refrigerator overnight. That is what caused them to oxidate and turn a darker brown, it doesn’t affect the flavour at all.
I used dark brown sugar because that’s what I had on hand. You could use golden brown sugar and that would also work perfectly fine.
I like to stir everything with a fork. I find it is a more gentle way to incorporate the ingredients and results in a lighter texture in the bread. You could also use a spoon or a spatula, but definitely NOT an electric mixer of any type.
It is a good practice to always sift your dry ingredients. Sometimes there are little lumps and sifting helps to not only more evenly distribute the ingredients, it also gives you an opportunity to rub any lumps through the sieve.
Add dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir gently to incorporate.
If you are using a fork or a spoon, I find it helps to switch to a rubber spatula to stir in the chocolate chips.
- 3 ripe bananas (overly ripe work even better!)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 4 Tbsp. melted butter
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup cocoa
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.
- Set aside.
- In a large bowl and using a fork, mash bananas to a thin consistency.
- Add sugar and egg to mashed bananas, again using a FORK, combine well.
- Pour in melted butter and combine, again using the fork.
- Add dry ingredients to banana mixture. Stir with a fork until flour is incorporated.
- Switch to a rubber spatula and stir in chocolate chips.
- Scrape into loaf pan (which has been prepared with cooking spray).
- Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 - 65 minutes (depending on pan size and your oven) or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in the pan, remove from pan, slice and enjoy!
As you can tell, I am a big fan of using a plain old, ordinary table fork with this recipe. I find it makes for a much lighter texture. I do use a spatula to stir in the chocolate chips, as well as, scrape the batter from the bowl to the pan.
The next time you have some ripe bananas that need attention, I definitely recommend making this dark, rich Chocolate Banana Bread, you won’t be disappointed!
As always, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will do my very best to answer them.
I have lots of bananas in my freezer, I need to make this! I love the idea of adding cocoa to it
So much yum. I also stir everything with a fork. It apparently drives people crazy here. It’s comical actually. Husband and daughter both always try to replace my fork with a spoon. I prefer how that works.
Mmmmmm you had me at Chocolate and Banana bread. Combined is a winning combo! I printed this recipe out so we can make it over March Break. I often use a fork too, unless I am making a huge batch of something. Then it takes too much to use a fork. lol
A fellow fork user, I love it! Hope you enjoy the bread, Diane.
Mmmm chocolate and banana is so good together! This recipe would be great to make for March Break.
oh my goodness.. I am so making this over the weekend!!
Hope you enjoy it Yashy!
My kids would love this recipe! On our baking list for the weekend.
Made this tonight. Was it ever good! Very chocolatey!
I’m so glad you liked it, Sharon! Agree, very chocolatey and decadent
As usual Monica I love your recipes and when you tweak older recipes like this makes it a must try. Saved the recipe to make next time the grandkids are coming as I know I would eat it all and not good for my waistline but definitely gonna make it. Thanks for sharing your fabulous recipes and the only thing better would be being at your house and eating yours LOL
Awwwww…Thank you Betty and I too wish you were here to have some with us!