Banana Bread for Work

So... I've made several different banana bread recipes and I just tried this new one for Jon's Army buddies at work.  I didn't use whole wheat flour and yogurt/applesauce because I was running low on such ingredients but there will be another post at sometime with my healthier whole wheat banana bread.  This was a big hit with the guys and Jon said it was "super moist and delicious!"

 

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons smart balance butter
• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar (loose)
• 2  eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4  average bananas, mashed (or 3 large bananas)
• 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ cups skim milk
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (or pecans, almonds, etc.)
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips (or semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan with nonstick spray.
2. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electic mixer at medium speed until it is light and fluffy. Add both sugers; beat well. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until well blended. Add the mashed bananas and beat on high for about 30 seconds. Set aside.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture into the butter/egg mixture alternately with the milk, ending with the flour mixture. Fold the nuts and chocolate chips into the batter.
4. Pour the batter evenly into a greased loaf pan. Bake until browned and a tookpick comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes (depends on your oven).
5. Cool bread in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes and then remove it from the pan and let cool completely on the wire rack. OR if you don’t have time, just let the bread cool completely in the pan. Then wrap the cooled bread in plastic wrap and store in a cool dry place.

Note: Try to wait about 12 hours before eating the bread, so that it can set up and the flavors marry, but if you simply can’t resist, it wouldn’t do any harm to go ahead and eat!