It’s been a rather triumphant week. That’s not just limited to my success at making Focaccia, though. Recently I got a win in the realm of “lunch box maverick” as well.

You see, being at home during these crazy times tends to open up opportunities, should we take them. For instance, Dylan is an essential worker with a full-time job, so while all this pandemonium is still going on in the world, Dylan is still putting his best foot forward doing the best job he can. I sit back and marvel at it sometimes, how this man can just keep going and going like the energizer bunny. Surprisingly though, his lunches are rather…plain. Sometimes it’s just a simple sandwich, maybe a quesadilla or wrap he’ll microwave at a gas station on his daily route. Usually, that’s all the time he has before he has to leave in the morning. Meanwhile, I’m still faceplanting a pillow after a night in the kitchen.

So, I took it on myself to try and spice up his lunchbox a bit, and surprise him with something that I KNOW he likes: Sugar! Dylan has a well-known sweet tooth (just look at his jam collection), so I felt it best to give him a little of that treat while on the job to help perk up his day. Looking around for something to make, my eyes settled on a rather…brown bunch of bananas on the kitchen counter. Banana Bread it was! But, I also know how much Dylan likes chocolate, so hey, why not mix them? I made a Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread!

If you’ve never made banana bread, you’re in for a surprise: this recipe is super simple to make! First, preheat your oven to 350°F. Then, separate the dry and wet ingredients into separate bowls. In the dry bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon(optional), and Chocolate chunks. Yep! You heard that right! The chocolate chunks go in the dry bowl so they can get nice and coated in the flour. This helps keep the chunks suspended in the loaf, instead of sinking right to the bottom.

In the wet bowl, add the Bananas(make sure they are super smushed and almost liquid by mashing them with a fork!), egg, brown sugar, melted butter, and honey, and make sure its all mixed in together. It’s incredibly important to keep these things separate. There are people way more versed in the art of baking than me, so I bet there is some scientific or culinary chemistry the makes sense. For me though, I like to keep it simple: By whisking the dry into the wet, it helps to prevent that nasty clump of flour from showing up in the final product. I don’t care who you are, there isn’t a soul out there that wants to bite into a hunk of raw flour in their banana bread!

So, once the bowls are filled with their respective ingredients, combine them! However, don’t just drop all that dry ingredient into the wet, and start to mix. That’s a surefire way to end up with a mushroom cloud in your kitchen. Instead, add the dry in a quarter or so at a time. Once each bit is incorporated well, add in the next. Trust me, it makes it SO MUCH EASIER.

**Those parchment flaps make removing the finished loaf a piece of cake!**

Once its all mixed well, transfer that mixture to an oiled and parchment-lined bread pan. Stick that banana bread into the oven and just sit back! Because of how hydrated this dough is, it’s going to take a bit of time to cook. At about the 45-50 minute mark, start checking the inside with a wooden toothpick or skewer. If it comes out wet with banana-y goodness, its got to sit a while longer. It shouldn’t have to sit much longer though, as about an hour or so is all this loaf needs. Make sure it has a chance to rest before you dive in (I know its really tempting!)!

One of my favorite toppings for warm banana bread is a sweet compound butter. I like to make them based on what’s in the bread. In this case, a honey butter on top of this bread would be amazing! Try it out when you can! Of course, Banana Bread is good just by itself too. Dylan certainly loved it, and when he took it to work with him, his coworkers went crazy for it!

**Wrap it up in tin foil and share it with the family!**

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Makes: 1 quickly disappearing loaf

Prep time: 5-10 minutes

Cook time: about 1 hour (give or a take a few minutes)

Ingredients:

The Dry:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 small pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (Optional)
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
2 Large chocolate bars, chunked

The Wet:

4-5 very overripe bananas
1 stick melted butter
¾ cup brown sugar
4 Tablespoons Honey
1 egg

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Use oil and parchment paper to line a bread pan, and set aside.

2. Peel the overripe bananas and place in a large mixing bowl. Mash into a liquidy paste with a fork, breaking up large clumps as needed. Add in the honey, egg, brown sugar, and beat with a whisk until well incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and chunked chocolate bars. Mix well, until the chocolate bars have a nice flour-y coating.

4. Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix until well incorporated.

5. Pour the Banana mixture into the bread pan, and set in the middle rack of the oven for at least one hour. Banana bread will be done when a wooden skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour or so. Ovens vary, so keep an eye on it!

6. Place onto a cooling rack, and serve!

Hello!

May 13 Quarantine Cooking: Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread