Cocoa(nut) banana bread June 7, 2012

I’ve been making this banana bread like a fiend for a couple of months now; it’s my go to recipe for when I open the freezer and brown bananas start falling out (seriously, I keep them on the door and when it gets over loaded its like an avalanche whenever I open the freezer). And every time I share it with someone, they ask for the recipe, which I have been slacking on . . . until now. So here it is, the chocolatiest, coconutiest banana bread around.

3/4 cup sugar (you could probably get a way with 1/2 cup, especially if using flavoured yogurt)

1/2 cup coconut oil (which is solid, like butter, which by the way works perfectly here if you don’t have coconut oil; I’ve used both. But try the coconut oil; it’s better for you and gives it a nice crisp crust)

3 ripe (or overripe) bananas, mashed

1 Tbsp coconut rum (or regular rum or vanilla, depending on what you’ve got)

1 3/4 cup spelt flour (you could also do half and half whole wheat and all purpose)

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp each, salt and baking soda

1/3 cup yogurt (coconut flavoured if you have it, plain if you don’t)

1/2 cup each, chocolate chips (or chunks) and shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour your loaf pan. I often double the recipe and use 2 loaf pans and one mini loaf pan, so keep in mind this is a big loaf.

2. Using a stand or electric mixer cream together sugar and coconut oil. Add in bananas and blend well.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour through baking soda, giving it a good whisk to blend. Add half the flour mixture to the banana mixture, then the yogurt, then the remaining flour mixture, stirring just to combine each time. Fold in chocolate chips and coconut.

4. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake for 55 – 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes, then flip out onto rack and cool completely.

 

Enjoy!

Ky

 

Chocolate Chocolate Zucchini Bread September 8, 2011

This is a picture of the snack I am consuming while posting this, including the jar of iced coffee in the background; so yummy. My mom always made chocolate zucchini bread when we were growing up, so this recipe comes from her, which I think she adapted in more recent years from the Looney Spoons cookbook, which I re-adapted to suit my preferences. This recipe makes 2 good sized loaves, but we made some into mini loaves and mini muffins, all of which turned out well, just adjust the cooking time accordingly (I think the mini muffins were done in 18-21 minutes and the loaves at about 30). This also freezes really well.

1 cup spelt flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp each, baking soda and cinnamon

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar (I didn’t find this to be overly sweet, but you could probably sub in 1 cup agave syrup and cut the oil a bit if you wanted)

3 eggs

1/2 cup plain, fat free greek yogurt

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups packed, grated zucchini (I did mine in the food processor)

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prep 2 loaf pans with cooking spray and flour.

2. Combine dry ingredients, except sugar, in a large bowl.

3. Whisk together sugar, eggs, yogurt, oil, and vanilla in a smaller bowl. Add zucchini, then add to dry ingredients along with chocolate chips, stirring just to combine.

4. Pour half of batter into each loaf pan and bake for 45-50 minutes (mine were done at 45) or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!

Ky