The Best Part

Micah came over on Thursday to bake, and we whipped up this amazing recipe of Chocolate Banana Bread. At one point, he was licking the batter off the spatula and he said, "This is the best part!" But then he quickly added, "No- the best part is being with you."  
 David Thomas talks about the stages of boy development in his book Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing Boys, and Micah is right on track in between that lover and individual stage as he melts my heart with comments like he said in passing on Thursday. So grateful for these times in the kitchen with this boy!  
(birth to 4 - explorer; 5 to 8 - lover stage; 9 to 12 - individual stage (identity formation stage, his sense of self is developing); 13 to 17 - wanderer stage (questioning his identity, insecure & unstable); 18 to mid-twenties - warrior stage) 

CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD

The ULTIMATE banana bread! Chocolate lovers will instantly fall in love with this easy quick bread.

yield: 1 LOAF

 

prep time: 10 MINUTES

 

cook time: 50 MINUTES

total time: 1 HOUR

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 large brown bananas  (1 1/2 cups mashed)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/4 cup canola, vegetable oil, or melted coconut oil
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork. Add the melted butter and oil and stir until combined. Stir in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir until smooth.
4. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, don’t over mix. Stir in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out mostly clean, you might have some melted chocolate chips on the toothpick and that is fine. You just don’t want a lot of gooey batter. Check at 50 minutes, just to be safe. Oven times vary.
6. Remove the pan from the oven and set on a wire cooling rack. Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread and carefully remove from the pan. Let the bread cool on the wire cooling rack until slightly warm. Cut into slices and serve.

Note-the bread will keep on the counter, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to 4 days. This bread also freezes well. To freeze, cool the bread completely and wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 1 month. Defrost before slicing.