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banana bread

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Desserts

Chocolate Chip Fruit Nut Banana Bread.

2 Comments on Chocolate Chip Fruit Nut Banana Bread.

I’m not the biggest fan of banana bread.. or so I thought, until I started making this stunning banana fruit nut bread. An excellent way to start the day > a thick slice, warmed for about 10 seconds, a thin layer of butter and my fav cup of coffee. The difference? (why I like this bread) The Fruit and Nut Chocolate bar I use in the recipe. I’m a HUGE fan of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut Chocolate!

You’ll Need…

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 fruit and nut chocolate bar (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
cooking spray

I know many people treat a banana bread as something that’s only made when there’s ripe bananas which are going bad on your counter. However the flavors of this bread is so enchanting (and simple to make), I know you’ll purposely purchase bananas just for making this one.

Peel, rough chop and crush the ripe bananas with a fork until fully crushed and set aside.

In a large bowl add the flour (sifted may be best), baking soda and salt, whisk and set aside.

In another bowl, place the egg and egg yolk, vanilla, melted butter, sour creme (yes I used the high fat) and one cup sugar. Whisk until smooth – or use an electric mixer if you want. You want to work all the grains of sugar until there’s no grit.

Add the crushed banana to this wet mix and mix well. I added the cinnamon and nutmeg now, but I should have added it to my dry (flour) ingredients.. no stress, all good.

Preheat the oven to 350 F, then add the flour mixture to the wet batter. Fold in as to not overwork the finished dough.

Give the chocolate bar a rough chop so you have chunky pieces. Then fold 2/3 of the chocolate into the batter and reserve 1/3 for topping the bread.

I then poured the batter into a greased loaf pan (I used cooking spray, but you can use melted butter if you wish). And on went the reserved chocolate pieces. Onto the middle rack in the pre-heated 350 oven. BTW the loaf pan I used was also non-stick. Level off the top of the batter with a spatula.

One hour later and the banana nut bread will be READY! Your kitchen will smell GREAT. Allow it to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, then
turn over on a cooling rack until it’s fully cooled and ready for slicing.

I used my fav chocolate bar as mentioned above, but you can use chocolate chips or even your fav chocolate bar as well. As far as the fruit you use, be creative and use the dried fruit you like – or leave them out if you so choose. While I’m not a fan of hazel nor walnut, you can certainly add those (chopped) or pecans, cashews, almonds.. basically any nut you enjoy

Desserts

How To Make Banana Nut Bread.

34 Comments on How To Make Banana Nut Bread.

One thing you can’t get away from in the Caribbean is the love and appreciation of bananas. So this banana nut bread is a common visitor in our kitchen whenever we have bananas which are about to go bad (rude house guest though – never sticks around for more than a day and just disappear s without even saying bye). As a boy growing up on the islands I recall always having a bunch of bananas or plantains hung up to ripe in the shed adjacent to our home… watching it closely for the first sign of ‘yellow’ so we could attack. We usually lost out to the many birds in the area who would zero in before we would.

Like the banana fritters recipe I shared with you all a while back, this banana nut bread recipe is great for using ripe bananas which are about to go bad (over ripe).

You’ll Need…

4 ripe bananas
1/2 cup walnuts (chopped)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoon sour cream
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

You can also add some cinnamon and allspice to really give this banana nut bread that unique Caribbean flavor.

Notes: I used really ripe bananas (easier to mush) and it’s a great way to use bananas which are about to go bad. You’re probably wondering about the sour cream, but I assure you it will make this bread very moist and not dry as some banana breads are notorious for.

In a large bowl, place the sugar, salt and butter… we’ll cream it to a smooth consistency. I started off with a spatula but I opted for my hand mixer after, for easier work. If you have a freestanding mixer, remember to keep scraping down the side so you get the lovely creamy consistency we’re hoping for.

Now it’s time to add the eggs, vanilla and sour cream and continue to cream with your hand mixer for a couple minutes.

Now it’s time to add the dry ingredients, but before you do.. in another bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. This way they will mix evenly. This is when you would put the cinnamon and nutmeg if you want to add a bit of spice to the final bread. Since I didn’t want to over-work the dough, I did the rest manually with my spatula. Add the flour and in a folding motion.. mix well. You should have a smooth, thick dough by this time. I’m sure you can do this step with your mixer.. but on low speed and not for too long.

It’s now time to mush the bananas to add to the dough. In a large bowl I placed pieces of the peeled bananas and using a potato masher I went to work. It took a few minutes, but at the end I had a smooth banana mash.. ready for the dough.

Before we move on, it’s probably time to pre-heat your oven.. set it at 350 as we want this to bake slowly. Now pour in the mashed banana (puree) into the main batter and fold it in until it’s completely mixed. Remember not to over-mix.

Add the chopped pieces of walnuts and fold in, so every slice of the finished banana nut bread will have a little tasty crunch. I used a silicon baking mold and though I probably didn’t need it, I still hit it with a tiny bit of non stick cooking spray. If you’re using a conventional baking pan, do remember to grease with butter and dust with four.. or baking spray. You’ll notice that I had the baking mold on a cookie sheet.. that’s just for handing purposes (get in and out of the oven).

By now your oven should be ready… place it on the middle rack and allow to bake for 1 hour. After 1 hr it should be fully cooked, but do check with a toothpick. Insert a toothpick into the deepest part of the bread and if it comes out clean, it means it’s fully cooked. Due to variations in everyone’s oven… you may need some additional cooking time. This is exactly what I needed, so I had to keep it in the oven for an additional 15 minutes. You’ll certainly get mad having to wait an additional 15 minutes as your kitchen will have the lovely scent of baked banana nut bread goodness.

Allow to cool (if you can) before slicing and enjoy.

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