Today’s dessert recipe: banana bread with dried fruit and chocolate.
Also known as ‘banana bread’ although it resembles a pound cake more than bread. This dessert originated in America as an anti-waste recipe, to avoid throwing away overripe bananas, just as it happens in our house, or at least in mine where every time there are no bananas everyone wants them and then, when I buy them, no one eats them! Tell me it happens to you too! 😊
A dessert as simple to make as it is delicious to eat, the mere aroma that the oven emits while it bakes is worth the wait, and after it’s baked, you won’t even realize that you’ll have eaten two slices in no time!
Simple ingredients that we always have at home like classic eggs, flour, sugar, and oil combined with mashed ripe bananas to create a batter that is already good as it is, but today I wanted to enrich it with lots of nuts and dark chocolate.
Now let’s see together, step by step, how to make this recipe.
To receive the recipe of the day for free
You might also be interested in
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 1 loaf pan 10 inches
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Anti-waste
- Seasonality: All seasons
- Energy 310.82 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 41.31 (g) of which sugars 19.62 (g)
- Proteins 5.74 (g)
- Fat 14.95 (g) of which saturated 4.45 (g)of which unsaturated 9.79 (g)
- Fibers 3.21 (g)
- Sodium 77.12 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 80 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 1 loaf pan 10 inches x 4.5 inches
- 1 3/4 cups banana (about 3 ripe bananas)
- 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp acacia honey (or other type but not too strong)
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch fine salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts)
- 3 eggs (medium)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or melted butter)
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate (or chocolate chips)
Tools
- 1 Scale
- 2 Bowls
- 1 Spatula
- 1 Sifter
- 1 Pound Cake Pan
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
Let’s prepare the banana bread together
With a knife, coarsely chop the nuts; I chose walnuts, almonds, and toasted hazelnuts, but you can add your favorites. Also chop the chocolate bar or, if you prefer, you can use chocolate chips. Set them aside.
In a bowl, break the eggs and add the honey, mix lightly, and then add the banana pulp that you have previously mashed with a fork in another bowl. Mix well to combine the ingredients.
To the obtained batter, add the granulated sugar and, after stirring, also the vegetable oil, then mix again with a spatula. If you prefer, you can use the same quantity of butter melted in a water bath and left to cool slightly.
In a bowl, put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the egg and sugar mixture by sifting them to prevent lumps. Add them in three parts, mixing in between.
Retrieve the chopped nuts and chocolate and add them to the banana bread batter, mix with a spatula, and the batter is ready to be poured into the loaf pan.
Take a loaf pan and line it with parchment paper or you can oil and flour it, then pour the batter inside. If you want, you can add thin slices of banana on the surface to decorate, if you do, moisten them with lemon juice to prevent them from darkening, and then brush them with apricot jam so they don’t burn while baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at a temperature of 350°F for 60 minutes, each oven bakes differently, so check the baking by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake; if it comes out dry and clean, it’s done. Remove from the oven and let it cool outside the pan before eating. In the meantime, take a photo of your banana bread with dried fruit and chocolate and post it on social media tagging me ( una riccia che pasticcia instagram and facebook) and let me know which nuts you used.
Una Riccia recommends
The banana bread with dried fruit keeps well for 2-3 days at room temperature or can be frozen (possibly already sliced) and gradually thawed when needed.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
How can I replace the vegetable oil?
You can replace the vegetable oil in the batter with the same quantity of melted butter.
