BY LEXI MOOREHEAD

For legal reasons, I do have to tell you that I cannot guarantee you will receive a ring of any sort from anyone just by making this recipe. Sorry. I can tell you, however, that this recipe is that good. 

This is best illustrated by the fact that I am officially 8 weeks into law school and I have baked at least 10 loaves of this banana bread. The reasons for that are:

• Who doesn’t love getting banana bread as a little gift;
• Study groups need fuel;
• I do not have the funds to buy baked goods on the weekly;
• I somehow always have bananas and they go ripe 0.4 seconds after I buy them; and
• Stress baking is a very real thing, not that I would personally know.

TLDR: If you love a little treat, this recipe is for you. 

Okay, enough chit-chat, here’s what you came for!

Recipe

Makes one loaf (and no, not Milo – iykyk)

Prep-time: 10 minutes

Bake time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour (all-purpose preferred, bread flour will make it too dense)
• ⅔ cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3-4 large bananas (don’t go lower than 3 or it will be on the drier side after baking)
• ¼ cup melted butter (don’t worry if it’s still warm)
• ¼ cup oil (I like to use veggie because it’s what I have on hand)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 – 1 ½ cup(s) chocolate chips divided (The recipe is sweet as-is without the chocolate chips. As such, I only use dark chocolate for this recipe, but it’s purely a preference.)
  • I put majority of the chips in the mix and the portion on top once the mix is poured into the pan.

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Grease one loaf pan.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients – EXCEPT CHOCOLATE CHIPS.
   1. Make sure you actually stir the dry stuff. There’s nothing worse than skipping this step and then having your baking soda clump together in one spot of the thing you’re baking… not that I would know…
4. In a larger bowl, mash the bananas. Add the butter, oil, vanilla, egg, and sugar. Whisk together until smooth.
5. Slowly stir the dry ingredients into the larger bowl of wet ingredients. Be sure to NOT overmix! You want the dry ingredients to be just combined with the wet – don’t worry if it’s lumpy.
6. Add the chocolate chips (either half or majority), again, don’t overmix! Just get the chips evenly distributed.
7. Pour the mixture into the pan and top with the remaining chocolate chips.
8. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
   1. Toothpick test around 45 minutes. It might be a little chocolatey from the chips, so pay close attention. 

Note:

• Feel free to add nuts if that’s your preference! Walnuts would be great, IMO. You can stir them in at the same time as the chocolate chips.

Let us know what you think of the recipe! Be sure to take a little pic and tag us on Instagram (@hotelearth360) if you make it. Check out our other recipes here!

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