Chocolate Chip Walnut Banana Bread

Confession: I’m one of those people who like their bananas unripe. The moment when they just turn yellow and there’s still a hint of green near the base, is the perfect time to eat a banana in my opinion. Unfortunately they’re only like that for about a day, and within two or three days they become way too ripe for me. Against all logic, I’ll then procrastinate on eating them, which results in them getting riper and riper, and me being stuck with black bananas that I won’t know what to do with. Until now. It took a while, but it finally hit me that using overripe bananas to make banana bread is an option, and something I used to do quite a bit. I haven’t actually baked banana bread in years though, and I never attempted a vegan version. As I’m not exactly a baking goddess (which I’m sure you know by now), I decided to look for help online and found this wonderful vegan recipe from the Baking Fairy. I swapped some of the ingredients for what I had at home, and decided to add some delicious dark chocolate chips and walnuts to make it extra indulgent. Nothing goes with banana quite like chocolate and walnuts, in my opinion. My loaf turned out absolutely wonderful, so I wanted to share how I made it with you today!

Ingredients

3 medium sized overripe bananas
1/4 cup soy milk (or other plant milk)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup walnuts

Pre-heat the oven to 175°C.

Use a fork to mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Add all wet ingredients (milk, oil, vanilla extract) and the sugar, and mix together until combined. Then add the flour, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix until combined, then stir in the chocolate chips.

Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan, and sprinkle with a bit of flour. Pour the batter into the pan. Roughly chop the walnuts, and sprinkle on top. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the top looks golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

My oh my! I’m in love with this little loaf. I like that it’s more of a bready banana bread, as opposed to the more cake textured banana breads I’ve tried before. This one works wonderfully with different toppings such as peanut butter or chocolate paste. Definitely be sure to check out The Baking Fairy for the original recipe (and some extra tips). She has a wealth of other amazing recipes on the website as well that are worth taking a look at.

Do let me know what you think when you try this out!