I have been buying too many bananas for the past few weeks. Maybe it’s because school finally started for us and I thought I’ll need a lot of things to put in school lunch bags. The great thing about bananas is that even if you overbuy, there’s lots of cool recipes that can make use of them — even when they’re a bit brown. Below I make a wonderful banana bread recipe that also has lots of nuts and chocolate goodness.

I am using self-rising flour in this recipe since it already has baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Self-rising flour is a bit more expensive than regular flour but it speeds things up. You can use leftover flour for other baking recipes like homemade biscuits. This recipe is wonderfully moist as it is loaded with four bananas. Chocolate chips, pecans, and turbinado sugar add sweetness and crunch.

Before you start, make sure your eggs, butter, and bananas are at room temperature. If you are using frozen bananas, you’ll need to let them thaw ahead of time.

I doubled the recipe and kept an extra one in the freezer for later this month. This was a real winner in our household. You can have it with coffee and put a slice in your kid’s lunch.

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip
• 1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts
• 2 tbsp. turbinado or granulated sugar, for sprinkling the top

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease and line a 9×5-inch and 2 mini loaf (don’t have to line) pan with parchment paper for easy removal after baking, then set aside.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs, bananas, and vanilla until well blended.

Mix in the dry ingredients slowly just until all ingredients are moistened. Fold in the chocolate chip and pecans. Spoon batter into greased pans. Tap the pan few time to get the air bubbles out and even distribution of the batter. Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top of the batter.

Bake small one for 25-30 minutes and large one for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Make sure to rotate the pan at least once during the baking time!

Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove the loaves to a wire rack and cool completely. Serve immediately or wrap and refrigerate for later use.

Video link

Serving 1 large and 2 mini loaves

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like, share, and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!