Repurposing Food: Bananas into Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

My niece, Camryn, friggin' loves bananas. Every single time I take her to the grocery store with me, she asks for them. I bought her banana jam from our local orchard and she was ecstatic. She consumes them in any way, shape, or form. What I'm trying to say is, I almost always have a shitload of bananas in my house. Sometimes she eats them all, and sometimes Cam "forgets", or so she says. Whatever.

So, you know I hate wasting food. Currently, we have two bananas that are crazy over ripened and two is not really enough to make anything. I'll end up freezing those two until I come across some more forgotten bananas. Yes, it's okay to freeze certain fruits without any detriment. Nanners are one of them. My favorite thing to make out of bananas is banana bread. Chocolate chip banana bread, to be specific. If I have enough ingredients, I'll make one plain and one with chocolate chips. (How many times do you think I can say "bananas" in one post?)

My bud, Dahlia, of Makita Studio (holla!), mentioned that she made this recipe on instagram one day. I had the ingredients so I decided to try it out. Sidenote: I did not try this specific one out. I almost always end up changing at least half of the ingredients because I either a) don't like 'em or b) don't feel like using them. What's funny is I posted a pic of my finished product to her, said I changed a bunch of stuff, and she said she did, too! Haha!

Here is my adapted recipe:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

(Yield: 2 loaves or 24 regular sized muffins)
Print this recipe

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  In the oven, gettin' a tan.

• 1 cup butter, unsalted and softened
• 1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise <----WTF? NO.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla (the real extract, not "vanilla flavoring")
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk 
• 6 super ripe bananas (I'm talkin black peel ripened), mashed
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, or however the hell many you want, optional
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, completely optional (especially since I hate walnuts. Try pecans!)
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• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl. Set aside.
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• In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl down. Add bananas, buttermilk, and honey. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir slowly and just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
• Fill loaf pans or muffin tins until 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown (Tip: or when a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean) about 50 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes, depending on your oven.
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• Important things to remember:
• DON'T OVER MIX! You'll end up with rubbery banana bread and that's gross. (If you'd like to know why, ask me in the comments.)
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• Tip: Create an even split top on your banana bread by running a butter knife or a small offset spatula down the center after panning, but prior to baking. Creating the divot will allow the bread to rise evenly. (You'd still end up with a split top if you didn't do this, but you don't know where exactly it will split.) Also, remember to rotate pans mid-bake.
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• Another tip: Don't have buttermilk? Use regular milk and lemon juice. (The ratio is usually 1 oz lemon juice per every 8 oz milk; In this case, you'd want 1 tablespoon 2 teaspoons of buttermilk, 1/2 tsp. lemon juice. Mix together and let sit for a few minutes, then add.) 
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• Cool loaf or muffins in the pan until cool to the touch, move to a wire rack to finish cooling. Serve with honey butter (1/4 c. honey, 2 sticks unsalted butter…whip until combined!) or jam, preserves. Anything your little heart desires.
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• You should come out with something looking like this:
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or this:



Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins (atop some rouge velvets that I made for my friend's birthday!) Sorry, I forgot to take a pic before wrapping them up. I was rushing to hop on a plane to Vegas! Oops. Anyway...

Bon appétit or whatever,

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