After picking raspberries this weekend (read my blog post here), I had so many I didn't know what to do with them! So of course I turned to baking. I already had some very ripe bananas, as well as some sour cream from a different recipe (read that blog post here), so when I came across this recipe for dark chocolate chip raspberry banana bread on Sally's Baking Addiction blog, I knew I found the perfect treat to try.
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream*
- 2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 large very ripe bananas)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ cup chocolate chips (dark chocolate or semi-sweet)
- 1 cup halved raspberries, tossed in 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour to prevent sinking*
Directions
1. Adjust the oven rack
to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lightly
spray a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
2. Using a hand-held or
stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed, about 3
minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each
addition. Beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla on medium speed for 1
minute. Remove the bowl from the mixer if using a stand mixer. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, toss
the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Using a
large spoon or rubber spatula, slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet
ingredients. Slowly stir everything together until no more flour pockets
remain. Do not overmix. Gently fold in the raspberries and chocolate chips.
4. Spoon the batter into
the prepared baking pan – sprinkle with a few additional chocolate chips if
desired. Bake for 60-65 minutes, loosely covering the bread with aluminum foil
at the 30 minute mark. This will prevent the top and sides from getting too
brown. A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean when
the bread is done. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely
in the pan on a wire rack before slicing.
5. Banana bread tastes
amazing on day 2 after the flavors have had time to meld together. Store
leftover bread tightly at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
*Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Bread freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.
- Yogurt/Sour Cream: Either Greek, regular yogurt, or sour cream are fine. Plain, vanilla, or honey flavored are OK. Low-fat or non-fat are OK.
- Raspberries: I prefer using fresh raspberries because I find using frozen tints the banana bread pink, no matter how gently you fold them in. The bread also takes longer to bake when using frozen berries due to their added moisture.
And now for my take on this recipe. For one, I melted the butter. I almost always do. It's faster to microwave it than to wait for my frozen butter to reach room temperature, and melted butter is easier to work with anyway. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, and tiny mini-chips to sprinkle on top of the loaf. I only used two bananas, which I think was fine, but maybe the bread was a little drier than it would have been otherwise. I didn't halve the raspberries because, again, who has time for that? Also, something I'm not sure I've ever mentioned in my blog posts before: I never pre-heat the oven as the first step. It takes me a while to mix the ingredients together, and why waste all that energy heating the oven when you won't use it for another 20 minutes? So I started it just as I was starting to put in the chocolate chips and raspberries. Then the oven is just heated right when you need it!
I appreciated the extra notes at the end of this recipe. All good things to know!
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