Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

Lots to catch up on the blog and now that Yom Kippur is behind us, (more on that later) I'm going to get started. In the spirit of having to use leftover fruit.... One of my girls generously gifted me with two browning bananas. I thought, that's so sweet... but what the heck am I going to do with them?! And so they sat on my counter for a few days, getting nice and brown, until I found this  recipe in KAF Whole Grain Baking, a book that I had been revisiting and scanning for some gluten-free inspiration (more on that later, too!!) This recipe for simple banana bread is tucked away at the back of the book, why I'm not sure, but it spoke to me anyway. Firstly, it calls for all whole wheat flour, I used regular and not white whole wheat. Also, in addition to some brown sugar, the recipe calls for honey. I must say that this is the EASIEST banana bread I can recall making. It came together in less than five minutes. I added chocolate chips instead of walnuts because the whole wheat was too virtuous. And because E likes it that way. Anyway, my eager tasters pronounced this amazing and delicious. I'm guessing the whole wheat didnt interfere at all :) My only caveat is to bake this baby through! Mine was a bit underdone in the center. You might get thrown off by the dark coloring, but if you're nervous, tent the top of the loaf with foil. 

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Bread

adapted from KAF Whole Grain Baking

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana- about 3 large

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

handful chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the margarine, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and vanilla in a bowl.

Beat until combined.

Add the bananas,honey and eggs,

and beat until smooth.

Add the flour and chocolate chips, 

and whisk to blend. 

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan,

and bake for 50 minutes, tenting the loaf if it begins to brown before it finishes baking. Cool in pan for ten minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.