Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I love banana bread.  It's one of the easiest things to bake, it doesn't take a lot of ingredients, and it's pretty hard to screw up.  Which is why I chose to use this recipe first for the blog.  Also, I had some extra bananas lying around, so also a plus. 

Banana bread is very tasty on it's own.  It's extremely moist, it's dense and personally, it's my favorite way to get my dose of potassium.  However, when you throw some peanut butter and chocolate chips into the mix, you really can't go wrong.  And that is what I like to do when I make my banana bread.  The peanut butter adds a little more moisture to the bread, along with a bit of a salty flavor, which pairs well with the pockets of sweetness from the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The recipe below is the one I use when I make my go-to Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.  But feel free to put your own spin on it.  I've also used almond butter, which adds an excellent flavor and consistency similar to that of the peanut butter.  Chopped walnuts provide some crunch and texture to the bread and raisins deliver a different kind of sweetness and chewiness. 

And, if you're someone with a severe sweet tooth (like me), you can top the bread with a homemade Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe also listed below).  I chose to opt out of the sugar coma this time, so I kept my banana bread naked.  However, if you do want to add a little something to your bread when you are serving it (without giving your guests cavities), you can sprinkle some powdered sugar on top, or serve it warm with a drizzle of honey.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!

Ingredients

Batter

Getting Hot...

Done!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 mashed bananas
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup smooth/creamy peanut butter
1/2 to 1 full 8oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (add to taste)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease one 9x5 inch pan.
2.) Cream butter and sugar together until smooth.  Beat in eggs, then bananas.  Add flour and baking soda, stirring just until combined
3.) Add peanut butter and stir until well combined.  Fold in chocolate chips, half to full 8oz bag, depending on taste
4.) Pour into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from pan and let cool


Cream Cheese Frosting (Optional)
4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
4 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.  With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Wait until the banana bread is completely cooled before topping with frosting.


Some Notes: 

1.) Banana bread recipes usually call for bananas that are fairly to completely ripe (the skin is completely brown on the outside).  But sometimes I want to make banana bread and my bananas are not quite there yet (they have some brown spots that look like freckles, but not completely brown).  At this point, they are not very mushy.  So in order to make them more malleable and easier to work into the batter, I peel the bananas and toss them into the microwave for about 30 seconds to a minute max.  This makes them much softer and much easier to mash up when you throw them into your mix.

2.) When I made this recipe this time, it took a little more than an hour for the bread to fully cook, about 75 minutes actually.  Every oven is different, so the baking time will vary depending on your oven.  However, 60 minutes is a safe bet to start with because it is always easier to keep it in the oven for a couple minutes longer if you toothpick doesn't come out clean, rather than putting your bread in for 75 minutes to start and coming back to your oven to find a black, smoking brick.  Just something to keep in mind.