Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
Mmmmmm banana 🙂 The only fruit that appears in our home at least 3 times a month. Coming from a tropical country, I was spoilt with different types of bananas. Heck, we even had banana tree’s growing at the back of our home but had to cut it all down because it was also a good hiding spot for thieves. The one’s we get here are simply just not as nice. So, instead of eating it just like that, I wait for it to get really ripe then add it into my muesli, muffins, bread, and ice-cream. The ice-cream however is a little bit disgusting because it really gets so slimy when you start eating it.
This recipe is really really easy. So easy I whipped it up at 2 in the morning, simply because I could not sleep. I had to make it very quietly though since the hubby was sleeping in the other room. All it took was a medium sized pot, a wooden spoon, a loaf pan and patiences. I initially wanted to bake it in a muffin pan, but I had a new loaf pan which I got 50% off the original price and wanted to give it a try. Plus, there’s a certain satisfaction I get looking at cakes or bread that come in a shape of a loaf. The greek yogurt or sour cream in this recipe makes the loaf really moist, hence the name.
Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter, melted
- 1 cup Brown Sugar*
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- 2 nos Egg
- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ cup Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream
- 3 medium sized (reserve 1 for top) Banana
- ½ cup Chocolate Chips
- ½ cup Walnuts (optional)
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 175°C (350°F). Line a 9×5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium pot, add butter on medium heat until just melted. Remove from heat.
- Add sugar and salt, mix well.
- Add eggs one by one, mixing well after each egg. Add vanilla extract.
- Add flour, baking soda, greek yogurt and mashed banana’s. (Just mash 2 banana’s with your hand) Mix till just combined.
- Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts (if using).
- Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
- Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top. Then. slice up 1 banana and arrange it on the top of the batter.
- Bake for 1 hour. If the bread is still not cooked but has browned on top, place an aluminium sheet on top of the loaf and bake for another 15 – 30 minutes. Use a cake skewer to check if the bread is fully baked. See tips below.
- Once baked, remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan.
- Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Tips:
- *If the banana’s you use are sweet, feel free to reduce the amount of sugar.
- My bread took 1 hour 30 minutes to bake. After the 1 hour mark, I placed an aluminium sheet on top of the loaf and baked for 15 minutes and removed it to bake for another 10-15 minutes.
- When checking cake doneness, be sure to poke cake skewer in several places of the bread. Sometimes, it’s the banana’s that stick to the skewer fooling you into baking the bread longer.
- Conversion Table
Enjoy and happy baking!
Muesli Bars
Homer Simpson once said that from now on he will only eat food that comes in a form of a bar. I too like eating stuff that comes in bars, from snickers, mars, milky way, muesli, and most of those breakfast bars. The only thing is that, it’s very expensive! Yes, it is very convenient, but sometimes, it’s just too sweet! And i’ve got a sweet tooth. I’m not saying that making it at home would use less sugar, but at least you can control how much you actually need to it to stick together and not add more sugar to it for it to taste nicer.
For this recipe, I used whatever I had on hand such as oats, rice puffs, mixed nuts, dried fruits, fancy molasses – this one was just stored in the fridge for a couple of months because I bought the wrong one and never used it, beet syrup – I misread the label, I thought it was golden syrup because it was labeled as Goldsirup aus Zuckerrüben (gold syrup from sugar beets), and butter. The original recipe calls for honey and white sugar, but I used up my honey over the week because of my cold and sore throat. Plus, I don’t quite like the strong honey taste in food. It was very easy to make and I was glad I could finally use up my fancy molasses so I could use the jar it came in. I can’t vouch that using fancy molasses and beet sugar syrup is healthier than using regular white sugar and honey. It does however change the taste of it and I actually really like it, plus it turned out not too sweet.
Goldsirup aus Zuckerrüben (Gold syrup from sugar beets) from AlnaturaÂ
Another great thing about making your own muesli bars is that you can customise it as you like. I started off with the basic mixed nuts and fruits. Once I’m done eating this batch I will try out others. It’s a good way to clear my cupboard from small quantities of nuts, fruits, and cereal.
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon (125 grams) Butter
- ½ cup Golden Syrup (see tips)
- ¼ cup Sugar (see tips)
- 2 ½ cups Rolled Oats
- 1 ¼ cup Rice Krispies
- 2 cups Mixed Nuts & Dried Fruits
Directions:Â
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C (350°F) and line a 31cm x 22cm (12 x 8-inch) baking pan with parchment paper and grease well.
- In a large and deep non stick pan or pot, melt butter, golden syrup and sugar on medium heat.
- Mix well and let it boil for 4-5 minutes or till it slightly thickens.
- Remove from heat and add oats, mixed fruits, nuts, and rice krispies.
- Mix well and make sure the ingredients are well coated.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan and flatten with a spatula or a scraper. Press firmly to ensure the mixture sticks together.
- Bake for 20 minutes or till golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let the muesli cool off in the baking pan for an hour.
- Remove from baking and cut into 20 slices. Or as your hearts desire.
Tips:
- Feel free to use any nuts or dried fruits.
- Use any cereal such as corn flakes, cheerios, smacks, or honey bsss pops (honey stars).
- You can substitute golden syrup for honey, fancy molasses, or corn syrup.
- You can substitute sugar for any choice of sugar such as raw sugar, muscodavo or demerara. I used beet sugar syrup.
- You can omit sugar.
- Store in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.
- If you have picky eaters, mince up dried fruit.
- Try coating it in chocolate for extra yumminess and calories!
Enjoy and happy baking!
Photo submission got accepted by foodgawker!
