- Hey guys! Today, I'm going to share with you one
of my favorite recipes for this time of year,
my nutty, chocolaty banana bread.
You guys have been asking me for a banana bread recipe
for some time, and let me tell you, this one is it.
I love this recipe because it's really foolproof.
It comes together so quickly and easily,
and it is the perfect treat for any chilly fall morning.
Before we get started, I also should point out
a new feature here on Youtube.
Do you guys see this little i that's up there in the corner?
It's a new feature that, when you roll over it and click
on it, you'll see suggested videos.
I point this out because this recipe is very close
to my pumpkin bread recipe, which is another recipe
that's great for the fall.
So after this is done, if you wanted to learn how
to make the pumpkin bread, just click that little i
and you'll see the pumpkin bread video.
The first thing we're going to do is prepare
a 9 by 13 loaf pan.
You can just give it a nice dusting with some baking spray
and set it aside.
In a large bowl, we're going to mix together
our dry ingredients.
You're going to take 2 1/2cups of flour,
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and two teaspoons of baking soda.
You can go ahead and just whisk that up
and set it aside.
Here is the secret to getting a really fantastic
banana bread is you want to make sure that those bananas
are really ripe, because as bananas ripen,
their sugar becomes more and more pronounced
and the banana flavor becomes more and more pronounced.
So if you use a banana that isn't really ripe,
you're not going to get much sweetness
and you're not going to get much banana flavor,
so it really pays to make sure that they're nice and brown
and almost mushy-looking.
Then we need to mash up these bananas,
and I find the best way to do that is with a potato masher.
But if you don't have a potato masher,
you could also use a fork, that does the trick as well.
Just make sure that they're nice and mashed,
and then you are going to add three eggs,
a 1/2 cup of sugar.
I'm not going to add a lot of sugar to this recipe
for the simple reason that very ripe bananas
actually provide a lot of sweetness, and I also always find
that if you add more vanilla than sugar, you'll get
flavor and sweetness than just sweetness.
So we're also going to be adding a tablespoon of vanilla.
Then we're going to add 3/4 cup of canola oil
or vegetable oil.
If you don't want to use the oil you could also use butter,
but I find that the oil, because it's a pure fat, it's going
to create a more moist banana bread.
And 1/4 cup of water.
You're going to just whisk that all up until it's nice
and combined, and then you can add the dry ingredients
to the wet ingredients.
You want to stir it gently, you don't want to overstir
or you'll end up with a tough bread, and that's not going
to be any good.
The final step is to add 1/2 cup of chopped pecans.
You could also use walnuts, I know that's very traditional
for banana bread, but I find that the pecans give it a
richer, almost nuttier flavor,
so I like to use them instead.
We're also going to add, this is where we get naughty,
a 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate.
I really think that the combination of chocolate
and banana is such a winner, so I like to add
about 1/2 cup of chopped, bittersweet chocolate.
Then you're just going to stir that up,
and your batter is ready.
We're going to transfer it into our loaf pan,
smooth it out with a spatula, and then we are going
to bake at 350 degrees for at least 55 minutes.
That's the thing when you're baking in loaf pans.
Because they are so deep, they take a long time
to make sure that they're baked all the way through.
You'll know that they're done by taking a nice skewer
and inserting it into the center.
If you get some batter on that skewer,
the banana bread is not done, but what can happen is
sometimes your bread is getting too brown
but it's not baked in all the way through.
A way to solve for that is just to place a little bit
of tinfoil on top of your bread for the last 10 minutes
of the baking time.
That way, you'll make sure that your bread is totally
baked through, but it won't get overly browned.
Once your bread is cool enough to handle, you can go in
with a knife and just free the bread from the sides
of the pan, invert it, place it on a cooling rack,
and once it's ready to be served, what I like to do
is actually take the bread, place it on a cutting board,
cut four or five generous slices,
and then let my guests help themselves over and over again.
This banana bread is really one winner, I'm telling you,
you guys will go nuts when you taste this bread.
It's moist, it's delicious,
it has the crunch coming from the pecans
and that decadent sweetness coming from the chocolate.
It is so addictive, you'll either love me or hate me
for this one (chuckling).
I hope you guys give it a try and let me know
what you think, and for more quick and easy recipes,
be sure to subscribe.
Always makes me happy when you guys subscribe.
I will see you back here next week
for a really decadent treat for Halloween.
I'll see you then. Bye.
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