Classic Banana Bread with a twist! Very easy to make, gleaming in warm spices, studded in rich chocolate chips, and folded with a ripe mashed bananas. Admit it, you want a slice!
When my daughter reaches her teen years I am running away. I’ve been low key packing my shit. A shirt here, some books there, batteries, money, passport, a can of corn. To an outsider and the unpracticed eye it will seem as if I’m packing a survival kit for an emergency, preparation for the aftermath of a hurricane or an earthquake.
And that’s exactly what this is. I don’t know if I can survive one more teen in my house.
Teenagers are assholes, straight up. There is not one shred of advice, not one talk that isn’t liberally peppered with huffing, side eye, or eye rolling so heavy it’s a wonder their eyeballs don’t stick to the back of their well coifed heads.
Like, bruh – Do you think I WANT to stand here and lecture you? No. I want to watch the Gilmore Girls and surf the internet in peace. But, nooooooooooooooo I sit and impart these glorious nuggets of wisdom and they are discarded like, well… Like poo nuggets.
Was I this difficult as a teen?! Was I?! Hindsight has a way of distorting things. I’m not sure, but I feel like I’m paying for something. My mom feels silently vindicated, I suppose.
I love my kids with all my heart. I do. They look like me. The boy IS me, even down to the sarcastic sense of humor. But he won’t take advice or counsel without a huff or a ‘you just don’t understand’. EVER. And it pisses me off. Because hot dammit – I DO UNDERSTAND! And if I have to endure 5 long ass, possibly drama filled teenage GIRL years I will LOSE.MY.SHIT.
So I’m low key packing to live off the grid and off the land. I’ll leave recipes. I’ll check in periodically, I will parent from a remote secret outpost. And I will see her off to college with my sanity intact.
Now flow with me, let’s talk about this Spiced Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I’m the chick who purposely ripens bananas with an objective in mind, be it a rich Crème De Banana Liqueur, a super addictive Banana Maple Caramel Corn, or a batch of knock your socks off Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. You can bet that when I ripen bananas I will make something more than just plain old banana bread.
Like this gem right here. Spiced Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is… is more. Much more than the sum of its parts.
There’s a moist banana bread. A bread heavily spiced with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. It is sweetened with both granulated and light brown sugars; flavored with vanilla extract and my special banana liqueur. I used heavy cream in place of Greek yogurt because it’s all I had in the fridge. I don’t believe in limitations I support improvising like a mofo. The worst that could happen is you end up with a parfait. And parfaits are delicious.
The batter is studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips. Studded with chocolatey diamonds. It’s baked until golden. The urge to cut into this loaf while it’s still warm will be strong. I’m not one to ask folks practice restraint. If you’re so inclined to cut into this loaf while hot, do you. Watch the tendrils of spiced banana vapor disappear into the air. Then take a good hearty bite Mmm…
Hot damn… This bread is so good, I may remove that can of corn from my escape bag and pop in a loaf of this Spiced Banana Chocolate Chip Bread instead.
[purerecipe]
Spiced Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup All-purpose flour spooned then leveled
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon Ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼ cup Light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup Granulated sugar
- ½ cup 1 stick Unsalted butter, melted
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 Very ripe bananas mashed
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon Banana Liqueur
- ½ cup Heavy cream
- 1 heaping cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside. Add the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and nutmeg to a medium bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside. In a large bowl add the sugars, melted butter, large eggs, ripe bananas, vanilla extract, and banana liqueur. Whisk to combine. Add the spiced flour mixture, followed by the heavy cream. Fold gently until moistened. It’s OK to see a few spots of flour. Gently fold in the chocolate chips. Pour the mixture inside buttered loaf pan and bang a few times on your counter to rid the batter of air bubbles. Place loaf pan in the oven and bake for 50 – 55 minutes or until toothpick or cake tester inserted into several spots in the loaf (in case you insert into a piece of banana, which will show the loaf to be moist) comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Cool the loaf in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer loaf to a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Adapted from: Tina's Chic Corner
