Today is my husband’s birthday. I wanted to do something special for him on his birthday so I decided I’d bake for him. I’m the first to admit, I’m not a baker. Because I rarely bake, whenever I do bake, it is a special occasion in our household. The girls will sit around the island in anticipation and as soon as the end product is ready, they devour it within minutes. I definitely don’t bake as often as my family would like and there are only a handful of things that I bake well. One of those things is banana bread. I mean, who doesn’t know how to bake banana bread? Since my hubby loves chocolate, I was thinking why not make chocolate banana bread. I remembered seeing this recipe on the back of a King Arthur’s flour bag and making a mental note to try it at some point. I did make a few minor tweaks and it came out delicious. I baked it last night since we’ll be going out tonight to Red Robin to celebrate my hubby’s birthday per family tradition. And I’m also looking forward to continuing the celebration this weekend with a date night. Those are rare in our household as well.

Before

After

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband, awesome dad, and the best photographer (albeit a little grumpy at times) I know.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons baking cocoa powder, or Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) soft unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium bananas)
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chunks, chocolate mini chips preferred

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 3 1/4″ x 5 3/4″ mini loaf pans, or one 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.
2) Combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa.
3) In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.
4) Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla, almond, banana, and sour cream.
5) Gently mix in the dry ingredients and chocolate chips until well incorporated.
6) Pour the batter into the pan(s) and bake for 45 to 60 minutes (bake for the shorter time for two mini loaves and the longer time for the larger loaf), until a cake tester or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7) Remove the bread(s) from the oven, and allow to rest in the pan(s) for 10 minutes. Turn the bread(s) out onto a rack to cool completely.

Yield: one 9″ x 5″ loaf or two mini loaves.

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