Chocolate-Walnut Banana Bread
206
- Prep Time25 min
- Total Time1 h 40 min
- Makes12 Slices
(Photo: Michael Alberstat)
What’s not to love about banana bread? Quick to make and always tasty, it goes easily from breakfast table, to lunch box, to after dinner treat with tea. And many of us have a family recipe we’ve been making for so long we could do it with our eyes closed. So why not give your go-to recipe a break and give our chocolate-walnut banana bread a try? With all the familiar flavour you expect from this potassium-rich treat, our version ups the healthy factor with the addition of flax seeds and whole-wheat flour. Plus, we’ve added enough chocolate chips to make sure it appeals to those with a sweet tooth, and the protein-packed walnuts balance the sweetness.
Ingredients
3 large, very ripe bananas
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 tbsp ground flax seeds, optional
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp dark rum, optional
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
PREHEAT oven to 350F. Lightly oil or spray a 9 x 5-in. loaf pan. Mash bananas in a medium bowl or large measuring cup. They should measure about 1 1/2 cups. Stir both fl ours with ground fl ax seeds, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter with sugar in a large bowl until combined, then beat in eggs, rum and vanilla. Stir in bananas. Using a wooden spoon, stir in fl our mixture just until combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Smooth top.
BAKE in centre of oven until a cake tester or skewer inserted into centre of loaf comes out clean, 50 to 65 min. Cover loosely with foil for the last 15 min if top browns too quickly. Remove pan to a rack to cool for 10 min. Run a knife around inside of pan to loosen loaf. Carefully turn out loaf, then turn top-side up on a rack. Bread will keep well at room temperature up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.
Kitchen Tip
Got more ripe bananas than you can bake? Peel and freeze in freezer bags or simply put in the freezer with peel on. When ready to bake, defrost and use all the banana pulp, including any liquid from leaving the peels on—it makes the bread even more flavourful.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories 297, Protein 5g, Carbohydrates 41g, Fat 15g, Fibre 4g, Sodium 219mg.
