Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Sunflower Butter

This Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips and Sunflower Butter is my kicked up version of Banana Bread. Don’t get me wrong, classic banana bread is great! Nice and moist, packed banana flavor, just all over good. This recipe though. Super crusty on the outside (which is my favorite part) super moist on the inside and oh so chocolatey. So it has the same great taste you remember and love, yet a little something extra without being overpowering. And of course, chocolate almost always makes everything taste better.  This Banana Bread has a bit of chocolate throughout and in addition,  just enough chocolate chips sprinkled on top to ensure you get some chocolate in your bite.  The Sunflower butter adds a moistness and rich flavor that you don’t expect, yet it’s a pleasant surprise that you will want to experience again and again, bite after bite.

Besides all of the wonderful flavors of this bread, it’s incredibly easy to make. One reason being that you don’t even need a mixer for this recipe. Either a wooden spoon or a spatula will do the trick.  You also only need one bowl. Even better, right? I don’t know about you, but the idea of having a ton of dishes to wash after a recipe can sometimes be the deciding factor for when and if I am going to make something. However if you are conflicted, this loaf does take a little less than an hour to bake so while the scent of bananas and chocolate fills your home you can start on the dishes.

How to make the banana bread

Start with your bananas. You can either use a fork or a potato masher to mash yours.

Next, add the rest of your wet ingredients in addition to your sugar. I am using a jarred sunflower seed butter here, but definitely recommend making your own. If you are interested in learning how much money you can save by making your own sunflower seed butter over purchasing it, check out this great article from Thrive Cuisine.

Another things to consider is that you can use all butter or all oil. I rather use half and half. Because coconut oil solidifies when cooled, I add it with my melted butter.

Dry Ingredients

So next you will add your dry ingredients. I sifted them, but I don’t always sift. Just make sure that your salt and baking soda and powder are always mixed into the flour.

Then stir in the flour half way. As a result,  you won’t over mix the better when you add the chocolate chips. I also do this when making chocolate chip cookies.

Then you will mix it all together and pour it into a loaf pan lined with parchment. Because you are lining it with parchment, it is going to keep your bread from sticking while also helping you pull it out of the loaf pan.

Lastly, you will sprinkle up to a 4th cup of chocolate chips on top. You can however use more or less, depending on how chocolatey you want yours. Me, I love chocolate as much as anyone so, a 4th cup it is.

Finally, bake and then allow to cool before slicing.

 

 

Since this recipe makes such a large loaf, you can probably make two smaller loaves instead.  And since you have two loaves, maybe you can gift one.