Recipe: banana bread

with choccy chips

I should be writing for my real job™ or doing the journal review I was assigned, but at a time like this I think Substack (or at least my friends on here) could use some banana bread. So I am finally posting the recipe I get the most irl requests for. And, believe it or not, this is the first time I’m properly writing it down instead of just a list of ingredients in my notes app.¹ This recipe is a not super sweet/sugary as far as banana breads go (which I prefer but you can add sweeter chocolate chips or a little extra sugar if you want).

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Ingredients:

1+1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, ideally room temperature and cut into at least a few chunks

2 eggs²

2 whole very ripe bananas, smashed or at least very cut up

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (unless you use salted butter)

~1/2 bag chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400F (sometimes I do 375 or reduce to 375 midway through to prevent it from getting to browned on top)

Mix the eggs, salt, and sugar together until it’s sorta fluffy. Blend in the butter, then the bananas.³ Then mix in the baking soda and vanilla (if using). Then incorporate the flour, 1/2 cup at a time (sifting as you go if you have a sifter). Add the chocolate chips.

Lightly grease a loaf pan with butter or oil. Pour in the mix and make sure to wipe up any stray drips on the edges so they don’t burn. Try to make the batter level approximately level in the pan.

Bake until a skewer/toothpick/whatever you use comes out clean. This usually takes 40-50 mins for me, but I always check at 30 and decide if I want to reduce the temperature and then keep checking every 10 mins after that.

Let it rest for a few mins, then gently pry it loose from the pan. Pop it out onto a plate or cutting board and then slice as desired. I typically store it in an airtight container or wrapped with multiple layers of foil to keep it moist, but plan to eat it within 2ish days or refrigerate/freeze it.

1. This was originally inspired by a recipe my bff from tumblr gave me for banana bread muffins, shoutout Izzie fr

2. idk wtf is up with recipes that call for “large eggs” the eggs I use are normal size. like the ones in grocery store. I am not sophisticated enough to understand egg sizes or where to buy the big bois

3. If you put the bananas in first cuz you mashed them in the bowl it’s no big deal