Chocolate Banana Bread

Finally! It happened. I am launching my newly redesigned blog!  Thank you very much for all your encouraging comments and emails I’ve been receiving along the way. I haven’t blogged in a while and it feels great to be finally back in the blogosphere.

To mark this occasion, I decided to bake something simple, yet luscious and super delicious.  I had some ripe bananas screaming for attention and I also had a bag of chocolate chips I’d been desperately trying to hide away from my chocolate-lover 5-year-old who finds chocolate no matter where I put it.  So naturally, the choice fell on chocolate banana bread. Out of a dozen recipes for the bread I found online and in books and magazines I have, one stood out for me. It was the recipe by Stephanie Jarowski, the owner of Joy of Baking, a wonderful baking website with tons of great recipes.

I adapted Stephanie’s recipe to my taste. The original recipe called for white chocolate chips in the batter, but I used dark chocolate chips instead. Also, I used raw walnuts instead of roasted and I chose not to top the bread with brown sugar before it went in the oven. My adaptation of the bread turned out amazingly delicious! So tender and moist!

If you have ripe bananas at home and would love to bake this bread but have no time at the moment, no worries, save your bananas for later use. Here’s what Stephanie suggests, “Instead of throwing them away simply slip them into a plastic bag and place them into the freezer until you have enough for baking. You can also peel and mash them, stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice for each banana, and freeze in an airtight container or bag. They will keep about six months in the freezer.” Thank you, Stephanie, for the delicious recipe and the great advice!

Make this bread, guys. You will love it, love it, just love it again and again!

Chocolate Banana Bread
Adapted from Joy of Baking

Note: If you don’t like walnuts, you can omit them in the batter altogether. The same with chocolate chips—the cake turns well without them, too. Also, I like to mash the bananas into a coarse mass instead of a mushy puree, so that you can see chunks of banana in the bread. Makes for an interesting looks and texture. Try it!

Ingredients
1  3/4 cups (245 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (30 g) Dutch-processed cocoa powder (natural unsweetened cocoa powder is ok, too)
1 cup (250 g) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 ripe bananas (approximately 1 pound / 454 g), mashed well (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (120 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (55 g) raw walnuts or pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (85 g) dark chocolate chips (I often use 1/4 cup chocolate chips and love the results better)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Butter and flour (or spray with a non-stick vegetable spray) the bottom and sides of a 9-by-5-by-3 inch (23-by-13-by-8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients (flour mixture) until just combined and the batter is thick and chunky. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake on the middle rack of the oven until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55-65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool, then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

70 Comments

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  1. Gorgeous bread! Can I have a slice please? 🙂 You know, I associate different images with different food bloggers. I’d come to you blog first a long, long time ago and seen the zebra cake. So now in my mind you’re the zebra cake blogger. Heheh Just thought I’d share this.

  2. Feridecim..Congratulations..Blog Looks AWESOMEEEEEE!! I love it! One thing though on my internet page the page does not fully show 3 columns. The 3rd column is on the bottom of the page. Just wanted to bring this to your attention!! Looking forward to sharing wonderful recipes and new posts…Aysegul

  3. OMG! Farida, this site is amazing! I loved it specially the Azeri part! I’m proud of having such a friend.

  4. Shaheen: Welcome to my new blog. Glad you like it. I like your association re zebra cake:)

    Aysegul: Thank you dear. I am glad you like the new design. Thank you for bringing the issue to my attention. You are right, looks like we do have issues viewing the blog on Explorer. It works fine on Netscape and Mozilla but not on Explorer. Trying to fix it. Cok tesekkurler!

    Aynur: Thank you! Glad you like it. And I am glad to have such a supportive friend:)

  5. The new blog design is fantastic Farida. Congratulations!

  6. i love this new look!! congratulations on the new blog and this gorgeous lookin bread 🙂 u have been missed so much, farida. it’s great to have u back..xx

  7. Wonderful job! Things look great! can’t wait to look around some more!!

  8. Farida, great new look, same good food…congrats and happy trails!

  9. A great new blog and look! That cake looks fantastic!

    Cheers and have a wonderful weekend,

    Rosa

  10. You rock, this is great. Love it.

  11. Love your new blog!! And a great start with the gorgeous looking bread!

  12. Congrats on your new venture..Scrumtious beautiful looking bread!

  13. Farida you did a great job. Your new site looks awesome. I wish you the best of luck to achieve any goals you have set for the future. You banana bread looks delicious.

  14. Farida, congrats on your new site…it looks great. And it is really nice to see you back in action 🙂

  15. Congrats for your new blog. The cake is looking very delicious. Love the dark color of the chcolate.

  16. Glad to see you back! Your new design looks great, as does the banana bread.

  17. O Farida, your new look is so beautiful. Good job. Maybe thats why the mails were bouncing since you were switching websites. Anyway my mail must have gone to you now since it didnt bounce back today. Keep up the good work. You make a lot of people very happy & that is such a great skill & blessing.

  18. Love the look of your new site. It is now newly bookmarked!
    Chocolate and banana anything sounds amazing.

  19. Hi Farida, congrats on ur beautiful new design & blog. the choc banana bread looks so chocolatey & yummy. perfect combo.

  20. Dear Farida

    Congrats on your wonderful new blog.. It looks great…
    Missed you a lot…
    The bread looks delicious..

  21. Hi Farida, congratulations on your new and beautiful blog. Im loving it!!! 🙂
    The choco banana bread looks yummy too! 🙂

  22. The new site is beautiful! I hope it turns out as succesful as the old one. Now that I think about it, I’m SURE it will be. Kaloriziko, as we say in Greece. (That means “may it have the luckiest of fates”).

  23. And what a nice way to start the new blog! looks great both the site and the bread!

  24. Great new look, same good food.

  25. Good to have you back Farida, The new site looks great:-). I use “Joy of Baking” recipes all the time, and they never let me down, this one looks great too:-)
    XX M

  26. Great to have you back blogging Farida, the new site looks fantastic!!

  27. Sweeeeet makeover ,Farida. “Joy of baking” is one of my fav sites for baking goodies,the bread looks so delish,its breakfast time and I’m getting hungry gazing at it. I’ve a sweet award,please collect in leisure:)

  28. Congrats Farida & the new look is fantastic !! All the best!

    Cheers
    Maria

  29. Yay! What a great, new look. Welcome back 🙂

  30. Great looking bread ! love the pic.

  31. Nice looking blog Farida..Congratulations! Great looking bread.

  32. Mmmm… this is one of my favorite kinds of bread. It’s great for breakfast, lunch, or a snack. Or all three! 🙂

    PS-I’m so glad you liked the chocolate pudding. And I didn’t realize you lived in LB. I used to live there too.

  33. Great cake Farida, and good job on your new website. Looks fantastic.

  34. FRIENDS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUCH WARM WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

    I am off to check your blogs which I haven’t done in a while, bad me.

    Cheers!

  35. How are you?, Give something for help those hungry people from Africa or India,
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  36. your blog looks really glamourous 😉 and the banana bread delicious I bet your house smelled beautifully after baking this nice banana bread

  37. I am so glad you’re back Farida! Your new site is so pretty! I love it! I look forward to all of your beautiful pictures and recipes!!!

  38. So long abla! This cake looks fantastic! I will try this when I get some over ripe bananas 😉

    Kedine iyi bak xxoo

  39. This looks positively delicious! I have fond memories of making banana loaf when I was younger. Must try it with chocolate.

  40. Hi Farida, what a beautiful site!!

    Your choc-banana cake looks amazing any chance of a slice ;D

    Rosie x

  41. Love your foodie site! By the way, I spent the summer in Turkey, and have been searching for great Turkish recipes ever since, so I’m glad I discovered you!

  42. Good morning, my friend! Your new blog looks amazing!!!! I’m so happy for you. What a bonus for us that it’s filled with wonderful recipes & beautiful photos.

    xoxox Amy

  43. Thank you, once again, for your comments!

    Larissa: welcome to my blog! How great you got to see Turkiye. I am sure you have great memories about the food there. Azerbaijani and Turkish foods have a lot in common, yet are distinctive in their own way.

    In the meantime, here are four of my favorite Turkish food blogs. The first three are in English, the fourth one in Turkish in case you picked up the language there. You’ll love them!

    http://almostturkish.blogspot.com/
    http://www.jasminesrecipes.com/
    http://nysdelight.com/
    http://www.benimtariflerim.blogspot.com/

    Enjoy!

  44. nice site, good looking bread!

  45. Your chocolate banana breads looks so delicious! I’ve been making banana bread for years, but never thought to make it with chocolate. 🙂

  46. congrats on the new design! it’s a pain in the a$$ but it’s totally worth it to have it look the way you want it! looks FABU. that chocolate banana bread looks pretty darn good too!

  47. Looks lovely Farida! loved the new look of your blog.
    how are things there, would check your recipes , but couldn’t comment always,
    favicon also wonderful.. 🙂

  48. How you think when the economic crisis will end? I wish to make statistics of independent opinions!

  49. Hi Farida!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog as it reminded me that I must stop by to say hello and check out what’s cooking on your end!! LOVEEEEE the new blog… Looks great… I’m updating you on my blogroll right after this…. Take care, Leesa

  50. Merhaba abla! Just wanna tell you that I have been baking this recipe for at least 5 times ever since you posted! I love the aroma that fills my home whenever it is baking in the oven. Thanks for sharing!

    Kendine iyi bak! Optum!

  51. miammmm!!!!

  52. Hi Farida,

    I love your website and your blog! How fantastic. I lived in Salyan for 2 years with an Azerbaijani family and fell in love with so many recipes! The problem is that I don’t know how to prepare them. Every spring (around Novruz) my host mother made what I interpreted to be a spring paxlava (baklava). It was yellow and I think it had coconut and was delicious!! Does this sound familiar to you? If so, are you able to send me the recipe or post it on your blog?

    Also – I assume that you make Levengi the same regardless of using Toyug or Balig – is that correct?

    Thanks!

  53. Thanks for sharing this recipe. My little sister is about to turn 7 this October and I think I’ll give her this delicacy. Do you have more recipe?

  54. LESLIE: Thank you for stopping by. Happy B-day to your sister! Look for more recipes under the Desserts category. Hope you can find something to your taste. Thank you!

  55. awesome looking bread

  56. This is great…..but your Zebra cake still tops…….Saying that, I ? Banana bread. And it is on my to do list for tomorrow!

  57. Wow !! Yet another delicious stuff 🙂 thanks again… M loving your blogs !

  58. Every spring (around Novruz) my host mother made what I interpreted to be a spring paxlava (baklava).

  59. Wow this looks so nice!!! Great cake Farida! Will definitely try to make myself.

  60. Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
    Can you please if you can mail me?
    Thanks,Chen.

  61. Do you need milk for banana bread?
    Thank you

  62. TUNZALA – No.

  63. Nice looking blog Farida..Congratulations! Great looking bread.

  64. bought this particular as a gift by friends that frequented all of us for that summer and knew our fruit juice. The aged juice extractor was really upon it’s last thighs, very cumbersome and also to be truthful it really would be a after it. This particular all of us didn’t use it anyplace close to much as we might have loved to do. That one is indeed a

  65. I just make this in the weekend and it tastes delicious! It has the flavor of a brownie with bananas, and the texture was a little similar too.
    Thank you for the great recipe, next time I’ll add half mini-kisses with almond, I’m sure it will turn out great.

    P.D. Sorry for the bad english 😛

  66. EL?ZABETH – Thank you for the sweet note. Glad you tried the recipe. Enjoy! PS: Your English is great!

  67. Hi Feride,

    Congrats on your new blog. Hope you are well. you have no idea how often i turn to your blog for help with new recipes. We always enjoy them . Thanks 🙂

  68. Baking this wonderful bread right now, the smell is irresistable!!!! I am already afraid that it will wake up my 4year old, who has been preparing his sweet tooth fot this delight already a couple of days ago.
    Thanks Feride!!! Warmest hugs from me and my little one to you!!!

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