Monday 6 August 2012

quick bread from my kitchen

It was love at first sight when I came across a Chocolate and Banana Bread while flipping through Linda Collister's book, Cakes and Bakes from My Mother's Kitchen. After a quick run through of the ingredients list, I had it bookmarked right away. Here's a quote from the author:

'This is a real treat for children everywhere or the big kid in all of us. Use milk chocolate and a banana~ or chocolate flavoured yoghurt for children or really dark chocolate and natural yoghurt for adults. This bread does improve with keeping - even for just a day.'

I am sold.


    

I would think most home bakers would try to bake something with bananas only if they were left with over-ripe bananas sitting on their kitchen counters begging to be used. For me, I specially bought a bunch of bananas and waited patiently for days, for them to turn black ;)

I stick closely to the original recipe and even took the trouble to measure my baking pans to make sure it fits the description of a '450lb size loaf pan'. I also bought a bag of self-raising flour just for it although I could easily do a substitution with plain flour and baking powder. I have bookmarked a few other recipes from this same book, and most call for self raising flour, so I am certain that it will be put to good use soon.


The finished loaves didn't look exactly like the illustration in the cookbook and that was largely my fault as I have replaced grated chocolates with baking chocolate chips. So, instead of a chocolaty, rustic loaf, I got a chocolate chips studded 'golden pillow' instead. I couldn't decide whether to love or hate the look of the finished loaves...from one perspective they were so awful but from another angle, I thought they looked cute and rustic all at the same time ;)


I encountered some mishaps when preparing the batter for this quick bread. Till now, I am not sure whether there is any typo error as I still can't believe that the amount of butter used is just a mere 55g? With so little butter compared to the amount of sugar and eggs, I was really skeptical that the batter would be 'fine'. Indeed, I had a busy time trying to cover the mixing bowl with my free hand to avoid having butter and suger splatting all over my counter. Fortunately, perseverance pays off, the heat from beating the butter caused the mixture to come together, from a bowl of 'sugary crumbs' to something I am more familiar with whenever I creamed butter and sugar together. I took extra care when adding the eggs, knowing that curdling would be quite unavoidable. True enough, the mixture did curdled into a mess of 'tau-huay' (bean curd), but not upon adding the eggs, but after I dumped in the yoghurt all at once. What a blunder!

Of course, I went on to add in the rest of the ingredients, keeping my fingers crossed all the time...hopping it wouldn't fall into that 'totally-waste-of-ingredients' category. Despite the blunders I made, the finished bread turn out to be deliciously moist and full of banana goodness. These bread loaves were truly flavours and fragrance-packed, since I took the liberty to add in some vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. Tell me, who can refuse a slice that is packed with banana, chocolate, cinnamon and vanilla? The author suggested to serve it thickly sliced with chocolate and hazenut spread (aka nutella), but I think it is really not necessary, but of course, no one will stop you or any kid from doing so :)





Chocolate Chips Banana Bread

Ingredients:
(makes two loaves, pan size: 17.5cmx9cmx6cm))

55g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g light brown soft sugar/ light muscovado sugar (I cut down to 120g)
2 large eggs, beaten
100g natural yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (not included in original recipe)
350g over-ripe banana, mashed
300g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (not included in original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon salt
100g semi-sweet chocolate chips (original recipe calls for 200g milk or dark chocolate, coarsely grated)

Method:
  • Line base and sides of 2 loaf pans with parchment paper. Sieve together flour, ground cinnamon and salt, set aside.
  • With electric mixer beat butter and sugar until well combined. Gradually beat in the eggs, little by little, followed by the yoghurt (add in gradually too) and vanilla extract.
  • With a spatula, stir in the mashed banana. Fold in the flour mixture, followed by the chocolate chips until just combined. Spoon batter into prepare loaf pans, level the surface. Tap the pans on the work surface a few times to remove any trapped air bubbles.
  • Bake in preheated oven at 180degC for 40~45mins or until golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (Optional: to ensure a nice crack upon baking, remove from oven after 15mins. With a knife, make a slit lengthwise along the centre of each loaf, return to oven and continue to bake until done). Leave to cool in pans for 10mins. Unmold, remove parchment paper, transfer to wire rack and leave to cool completely.
  • The loaves are best if wrapped in baking paper and kept for 1 day before cutting. Store in airtight container and consume within 4 days. Serve in thick slices with nutella spread, if desired.
Recipe source: Cakes and bakes from my mother's kitchen, Linda Collister

18 comments:

The Experimental Cook said...

I must scream now. Was thinking of you and maybe you will bake some bread this morning ... and then I see this!

PH said...

Your bread looks very charming. I like the choc chips, they kind of look like raisins.

Anonymous said...

hi HHB! i buy a bunch of bananas and wait for it to ripen specially to make one recipe too!
This recipe yields a chocolate banana bread. does the texture taste like bread or cake or a mixture? i remember long time ago when i baked banana bread. it turned out quite chewy... not cakey, not bread at all! I am confused haha O.O

Happy Homebaker said...

The Experimental Cook, thanks for thinking of me :):)

Phong Hong, it is a delicious cake, hope you have chance to try it someday.

Simply bakes, the 'bread' here refers to quickbread, the texture is a cross between a pound cake and a muffin, no it is not chewy at all. I suspect you may have over mix after you added in the flour, it could be the reason why your bread became chewy.

Veronica said...

Hey, your bread has a beautiful golden colour. A cross between a pound cake and a muffin texture - wow, I think I love it already. And it looks absolutely stunning too! Thanks for sharing.

ann low said...

I am sold too! I love this yummy looking and easy bread recipe. Must get a bunch of banana soon ... hahaa..

Francesca Maria Battilana said...

Very sweet bread!

Dumpling Love said...

This looks delicious, HHB! I love the combo on banana and chocolate. Pity I cannot resist eating the bananas before waiting to bake them =P hehe

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

HHB, Thanks for stopping by and leave with your kind words. I hope you will like my Pak Cham Gai soon.. When i have over-rip bananas but I did not think to make them into cake. When i wanted to make a banana bread, but no rip banana instead, i always has this problem, hehehe..Your quick banana bread sound so good!

What's Baking?? said...

Hi..you have a lovely blog. Love this recipe. Glad to follow you. :)

Unknown said...

Look delicious! Can't tell only with little butter. I always like baking with banana. Definitely a keeper for me. Thanks for sharing !

Life is full of surprises said...

Thanks HHB... This recipe is so timely and prefect for me as I need to finish up my soon to expire yogurt, chocolate chips n cinnamon powder and small amount of butter! My kitchen was filled with aroma of banana, cinnamon n I jus cant resist eating a small slice while it was cooling on the rack!

Fiona

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

Beautiful quick bread!

May I know how u insert/create 4 pics in a roe in ur blog post?

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Fiona, glad to hear that this recipe works well for you too :)

Hi Angel, I simply place them one after another with no space/lines in between, but you will need to set the pics to small size and make sure the with of your blog post area is wide enough to place all 4 pics.

Angel @ Cook.Bake.Love said...

Hi HHB,

Thanks for if prompt reply.

I will try.

ernährungsplan said...

very good comment

Anonymous said...

This looks incredible, your photos are fantastic and it sounds delicious.

Alice said...

looks really delicious :)