Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe For National Banana Bread Day
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February 23rd is National Banana Bread Day. You’d think we could get a decent piece of banana bread in this town, but it’s surprisingly tough. Most of what we purchase at specialty food stores has only a nodding acquaintance with bananas. With no banana punch but a high level of spices, it could be zucchini bread. One does do better at bakeries; but alas, bakeries are fast becoming extinct here due to low margins and astounding rents. So since today is National Banana Bread Day, grab the bananas and a loaf pan and start baking. One reason that some recipes fall short on banana flavor is that the recipe requires overripe bananas. When they’re brown and splotchy and unappealing, that’s when you want to bake. The more brown/overripe, the sweeter the banana flavor. A trick for always having the perfect ripeness on hand: Buy the bananas before you need them. (If you’re lucky, you’ll find overripe ones that have been marked down.) Once they become overripe, peel them, wrap them tightly and freeze them. They thaw quickly at room temperature when you’re ready to bake. We always bake a double batch and put the second one in the freezer; we slice it frozen and cut slices as needed for ourselves, work colleagues, friends and neighbors. This recipe was adapted from one by Charles Masters for the Food Network. We also love this chocolate chip banana cake recipe from Chef Pichet Ong. Ingredients For the Bread 1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. 2. COMBINE the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add the chocolate chips. 3. WHISK the eggs, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla, and orange zest in a medium bowl. Stir in the mashed banana, then fold the mixture into the flour mixture until just combined. 4. ADD the batter to the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes in the pan on a rack, then turn the bread out onto the rack to cool completely. 5. MAKE the glaze: Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, milk, vanilla and salt in a bowl. Pour over the cooled banana bread and let set, 15 to 20 minutes. |
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “BREAD” & CAKE There is a transition between sweet breads and lower-sugar cakes that are baked in loaf pans, such as carrot bread and banana bread. What’s the difference between a banana bread and a banana cake? The obvious difference is that the bread is baked in a loaf pan while the cake is baked in a round, square, or rectangular cake pan. A less obvious distinction is that the bread style of cake, as a quickbread*, is leavened with baking soda instead of yeast, which makes them quicker to rise. In general, loaf cakes or “breads” also have a denser crumb, a rougher texture and often less sugar than their cake counterparts. While the origin of the “bread” style of cake is unknown, food historians believe that it was originated in the 18th century with housewives experimenting with pearl ash. The powder was used as leavening in quick breads from around 1740, long before the invention of baking powder. Banana bread became common in American cookbooks in the 1930s, with the popularization of baking soda and baking powder, and very popular in the 1960s, when variations with simple inclusions (nuts, chocolate morsels) created simple but delicious snack cakes. *Other quickbread examples include biscuits, cornbread, muffins, scones and soda bread. |
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