Name: Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Yield: 16
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 8 tbsp unsalted butter (one stick); 1/2 cup natural cocoa powder; 3 large very ripe bananas, about 1 cup mashed; 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar; 1/2 cup sour cream; 1 large egg; 1 tsp baking soda; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1/2 tsp salt; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 1/2 cups (9 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided: 1 cup for the batter, 1/2 cup for the top

Fabulous Double Chocolate Banana Bread Recipe

There’s banana bread, and everyone loves banana bread. But this recipe is for double chocolate banana bread; it’s banana bread at a higher level. We’ll show your two little touches that take this luscious loaf right over the top! Oh, how I wish there were a scratch and sniff button on this post!

First, you make this banana bread with brown butter. Brown butter is butter magic. Brown butter happens when you melt butter on the stovetop just to the point that the milk solids are toasted. This step makes the butter take on a light golden brown color and a nutty, sort of caramel flavor.

Second, we’ll show you how to “bloom” cocoa powder to develop even more chocolatey-ness and intensify the flavor to new heights!

How To Make Butter Into Brown Butter

Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the butter and frequently whisk as the butter melts. If you cut it into pats, it will melt more evenly. A pan like this one with a light-colored interior is perfect because it’s so easy to see the changes in the butter as you melt it.

Once melted, the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Continue to cook the butter. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin forming at the pan’s bottom. Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma and be light golden brown.

When the butter is light brown, remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter into a bowl to stop it from cooking further and perhaps burning. Watch carefully. It’s easy to go from brown to burnt in a short time.

Once you have perfected this process, you will be addicted, and you’ll want brown butter on and in everything you make! It makes everything you bake better!

This Banana Bread Is Perfect For Hardcore Chocolate Lovers

For these people, like my mom and my brother, the only thing better than chocolate is more chocolate. The batter is rich, deep, and chocolatey. And if that isn’t enough, the double chocolate banana bread is studded with a generous amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips and topped with even more chocolate chips for an ultimate over-the-top explosion of their most beloved flavor.

What Does It Mean to Bloom Cocoa Powder

In this recipe, you will find a rare special step called “blooming” the cocoa. Cocoa powder is “bloomed” by mixing it with a hot liquid. Pour the cocoa into the melted butter, stir well to break up any lumps, then let it rest for a minute or two. In this case, the browned butter is the liquid used for cocoa powder blooming.

The cocoa powder dissolves and releases flavor particles. This process brings out the best in cocoa powder and unleashes its every bit of ultra-chocolatey potential.

Put It All Together And Make Awesome Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Mash the bananas and add the cocoa and butter mixture. Stir until well combined. Next, add the brown sugar, sour cream, egg, vanilla, salt, and baking soda to the bowl and whisk to combine.

Add the flour. Use a large spatula to fold the flour into the other ingredients just until no streaks of flour remain, and finally, gently fold in one cup of chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into a standard nine-inch by five-inch loaf pan you have prepared with a parchment paper sling. This step is important because, without the parchment paper, this bread is difficult to remove from the pan.

Finally, sprinkle another one-half cup of chocolate chips on top of the batter and bake the bread in a 350-degree oven for about sixty minutes.

Allow the loaf to cool for about fifteen minutes before you remove it from the pan. Let the double chocolate banana bread loaf cool completely before slicing it. I know, it’s hard, isn’t it?