“Real” Easy Chocolate Chip Banana Bread12 Days of Handmade Christmas Projects: Day 7

It’s hard to resist yummy, rich baked goods when the Christmas season rolls around! This chocolate chip banana bread is one of our family favorites, and, except for the little bit of sugar in the chocolate chips, it’s made with all real ingredients. It makes a perfect gift for a friend or neighbor. And, since it doesn’t use eggs, it’s really easy to make it vegan, too!
The Ingredient List
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup real butter and 1/4 cup coconut oil (or use 1/2 cup of coconut oil for a vegan bread)
3/4 cup real maple syrup
1 tsp. real vanilla
2-3 very ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 cups total when mashed)
1 cup chocolate chips (We use the Enjoy Life mini-chips, primarily because they’re soy-free, but they’re also dairy-free and nut-free.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mash or puree your bananas. (I don’t care for chunks of banana in my banana bread, so I throw mine into the blender or food processor.) Melt the butter. Remove the pan from the heat and add the coconut oil. If the coconut oil is solid, stir it into the butter until it’s melted. Stir in the maple syrup and vanilla. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and baking soda. (I like to stir these together with a fork to break up any lumps. It’s sort of pseudo-sifting.) Add the liquid ingredients including your mashed bananas to the flour mixture in your mixing bowl and stir. Fold in the chocolate chips Pour the batter into a buttered loaf pan (or into 12 muffins cups or 4 mini-loaves.) Bake at 350 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out with only melted chocolate on it. Let the bread cool completely before you cut it. (Really, let it cool! This is a really moist, dense bread. If you cut it while it’s hot, you’ll end up with a pile of mush, yummy tasting mush, but not pretty mush. If you want to eat it right away, make muffins! They cook faster, too: 23-25 minutes at 350 degrees.)