Baking - Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar

photo from molly.

HOLY COW! This bread is amazing! Totally hit the spot for a late Sunday dessert while wrapping up weekend activities and dreading the ever pervasive Monday morning return to work. We cut thick slices of it and drank super cold glasses of milk while taking in some bad TV and working on our laptops. The idea of a non-fat dessert created with a one-bowl-required recipe was incredibly appealing to me ("non-fat" read: no butter or oil added, but plenty of fat from eggs and chocolate chips). This is in no way "healthy" but is a much better way to use up those ripe bananas piling up in my freezer than the traditional banana bread. And you guys know how much I loooove traditional banana bread.

Melty chocolate intertwined with just enough banana flavor and topped off with a crunchy, cinnamony crustiness? Why hadn't I ever thought of it before? CINNAMONY CRUSTINESS! Oh goodness.

And to add to Molly of Orangette's comment on frozen bananas...when defrosting those frozen bananas, try throwing them onto a Teflon-coated frying pan or baking sheet. You'll have thawed fruit in less than an hour. Woohoo!

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar
courtesy of Orangette

3 very ripe bananas (the size doesn’t much matter; medium to large works)
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips trader joe's comes to the rescue again (cheap and delish)

For topping: i doubled this part for extra crunchiness
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter or spray an 8-inch square pan. i contemplated making it in a loaf pan instead, but am glad i stuck to the square pan. it would've taken forever to bake in the smaller pan and rose enough to give me the height i wanted.

In a medium mixing bowl, mash the bananas well with a fork or potato masher. Add the eggs, and stir well to combine. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla, and stir to mix. Add ¾ cup of the chocolate chips, and stir briefly. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the pan, and top with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.