Brown Sugar Banana Bread

Brown Sugar Banana Bread

March 17, 2020

Servings: 12

Prep: 20 min

Cook: 50 min

Total: 1 hr 10 min

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This banana bread is so moist and delicious, it lasts for days on end. Adding the chocolate chips gives you a good excuse to eat chocolate for breakfast ... or enjoy this for dessert!

By: A Wholesome New World

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

• Step 1 Preheat oven to 350º. Generously grease one 8 x 4-inch loaf pan with butter and dust with flour.
• Step 2 Cream together butter and sugar. It’s essential that your butter is softened for this step, so try to take it out well before you start baking, or soften it up quickly in your microwave. (Our microwave actually has “soften” as its own setting!)
• Step 3 Add eggs and banana and combine well.
• Step 4 Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture with vanilla. Add chocolate chips and mix once more just until combined. Do not overmix.
• Step 5 Pour batter into your greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Cool and then remove from pan before serving.

Welcome to the new norm, quarantine day 4, where we bake our troubles away! In all seriousness though – as I try to pass the time (without a real end in sight) and keep the kids in engaged in something other than screen time, I’ve found that cooking is one of the best activities we’ve done together. Last night we even did a Zoom cooking class, organized by Renana from our local Fiddleheads Cooking Studio. We had just signed up for the spring semester and only had one in-person class so far. While we definitely wish we were in her studio cooking together with our friends, zooming in to the little red barn to make spaghetti and meatballs is not a bad solution. We made baked meatballs with “hidden” veggies and our own homemade tomato sauce too. Gryffin helped every step of the way and was so proud of what we made! We had fun and dinner was done, a win-win for everyone!

At this rate, with all of the cooking and eating we’ve done for the last few days, my pants are starting to feel noticeably tighter, but if the kids are happy and busy, I’ll take it! I’m totally going for the “corona 15” now, but I’m not ashamed in the least. At least I’ve balanced some of the excessive calorie intake with a daily Peloton class. My bike literally came two weeks ago, not a day too soon. If there’s one stock you should be buying right now, it’s probably Peloton. It has literally saved my sanity this week. Endorphins for the win!

Today’s recipe originally came about because I’ve reached the point where I’m not willing to let any produce go to waste. My bananas were getting mushy, so I was determined to use them, either for a smoothie… or banana bread. I asked Gryffin what he’d prefer to make and you can guess which one won. I modified this recipe from one of my favorite blog banana bread recipes, Pumpkin Banana Bread. We already ran out of sugar (oy!) – the one thing I didn’t remember to stock up on, but I substituted brown sugar and you would honestly never know the difference. I can’t wait to hear what you (and your kids!) think of this recipe so comment below. Follow our lead and make it a whole family activity!

How can you engage your kids?

• Measure out the ingredients but let them pour them in. Then have them do the stirring.
• My kids love eggs so I even let my 3 year old crack the egg, but I definitely supervise this! You don’t want eggshells in your bread!
• Talk about each ingredient as you add it. Let them smell the spices and touch the produce. You could even have them draw a face on the banana before you peel it! Get silly!
• While the bread is baking, read a story about baking! Or bananas! Or Daniel Tiger’s Sweet Trip to the Bakery – they make banana bread for his Mom. You can draw pictures about baking or what you baked also.
• So many fun ways to get the little ones excited about cooking. Stay tuned for more tips!

Sending love and strength to you all during this unbelievably scary time.

xoxo, Amanda