My Cocoa Banana Bread Recipe

I used to have a job that could be kind of stressful sometimes. After work, one of my favorite ways to decompress was by making quick breads. I think it started with a pumpkin bread recipe that I found. Then I moved on to banana, and trying to come up with my own recipes soon after. The actual baking part was fun, but having a treat to snack on for the rest of the week was even better. If I’m being totally honest, there were days when the only way I managed to power through the first four hours of work was the promise of some baked good, a shining beacon of hope in my lunchbox.

This recipe for Cocoa Banana Bread is one that I revisited recently. It’s your basic banana bread, but the addition of cocoa powder makes it feel like your birthday for about five minutes while you eat it! Have it cold or toasted with a little butter!

Please feel free to play around with this recipe to make it your own and utilize what you already have in your kitchen! Swap out white sugar for brown or melted butter for oil. The best recipe is one that doesn’t require an extra trip to the grocery store, so think of these as guidelines rather than gospel. 

I’m definitely no genetic gold mine, so I usually try to make recipes a little healthier when I can. I like to bake with avocado oil instead of butter, cut back on the sugar, and use various egg substitutes. If you’re not somebody who’s worried about stuff like that (mortality), by all means, adjust things to match your level of devil-may-care. (Also, please tell me your secret?)

The most important thing is to make something you’ll feel good about eating that will hopefully brighten your day!

COCOA BANANA BREAD 

INGREDIENTS:

(dry)
1½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
¼ cup cocoa powder

(wet)
3 ripe bananas, peeled (fresh or frozen and thawed)
½ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup oil of choice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

You will also need: A standard size loaf pan (per the Internet, 8-½” x 4-½” x 2-½”), greased. Two mixing bowls. Measuring cups and spoons. A fork and maybe a rubber spatula for mashing/mixing. A wire cooling rack. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and set aside. In a second mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork and stir in remaining wet ingredients. Gradually, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ones until no streaks of flour remain. Pour the batter into your greased loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the bread rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. 

Enjoy!

Do you make any special treats to help you get through the drudgery of the work day? Let me know!