I’m not the biggest fan of banana bread.. or so I thought, until I started making this stunning banana fruit nut bread. An excellent way to start the day > a thick slice, warmed for about 10 seconds, a thin layer of butter and my fav cup of coffee. The difference? (why I like this bread) The Fruit and Nut Chocolate bar I use in the recipe. I’m a HUGE fan of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut Chocolate!
You’ll Need…
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas (mashed)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 1/2 fruit and nut chocolate bar (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
cooking spray
I know many people treat a banana bread as something that’s only made when there’s ripe bananas which are going bad on your counter. However the flavors of this bread is so enchanting (and simple to make), I know you’ll purposely purchase bananas just for making this one.
Peel, rough chop and crush the ripe bananas with a fork until fully crushed and set aside.
In a large bowl add the flour (sifted may be best), baking soda and salt, whisk and set aside.
In another bowl, place the egg and egg yolk, vanilla, melted butter, sour creme (yes I used the high fat) and one cup sugar. Whisk until smooth – or use an electric mixer if you want. You want to work all the grains of sugar until there’s no grit.
Add the crushed banana to this wet mix and mix well. I added the cinnamon and nutmeg now, but I should have added it to my dry (flour) ingredients.. no stress, all good.
Preheat the oven to 350 F, then add the flour mixture to the wet batter. Fold in as to not overwork the finished dough.
Give the chocolate bar a rough chop so you have chunky pieces. Then fold 2/3 of the chocolate into the batter and reserve 1/3 for topping the bread.
I then poured the batter into a greased loaf pan (I used cooking spray, but you can use melted butter if you wish). And on went the reserved chocolate pieces. Onto the middle rack in the pre-heated 350 oven. BTW the loaf pan I used was also non-stick. Level off the top of the batter with a spatula.
One hour later and the banana nut bread will be READY! Your kitchen will smell GREAT. Allow it to cool for about 5 minutes in the pan, then
turn over on a cooling rack until it’s fully cooled and ready for slicing.
I used my fav chocolate bar as mentioned above, but you can use chocolate chips or even your fav chocolate bar as well. As far as the fruit you use, be creative and use the dried fruit you like – or leave them out if you so choose. While I’m not a fan of hazel nor walnut, you can certainly add those (chopped) or pecans, cashews, almonds.. basically any nut you enjoy
Hi Chris. ..Ever since I came upon your site , I am trying recipes that o grew up on in the Caribbean. I am grateful that I did because now the people o share my food with raves about my cooking. . They have no idea that how intimidated I was trying to recreate some of these dishes… with your help , I feel much more confident in my culinary skills. Thank you lots. Keep up the great job.
Hey Chris, you’re definitely right! I’ve always used going off bananas for banana bread lol. The chocolate version, I’m def going to try. I’m not an egg liking person, so I’m going to substitute them with plain yoghurt.
Something I’ve always thought about, since visiting Barbados msny years ago ( Not Jamaica, I know but I know you have Breadfruit too ), as a tourist, I saw a guy walking home with a bread fruit, having picked it, carrying it home to cook. That image never left my mind, thinking how envious I was, and how great that is, so I wondered if you could do a recipie for cooking bread fruit and what it tastes like?
I heard ita like squash or potato.
Love your vids.
God bless your day!