Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

This banana bread is so easy a monkey could make it, if that monkey could read of course! You only need one bowl to make this and no sifting is involved.  The best bananas for this recipe are the ones that are over-ripe. The yellow peel should be turning brown and the inside of the banana should be slightly mushy. You can get creative with it and add walnuts, pecans, craisins, raisins or just leave it plain.  I always seem to buy too many bananas and don’t want to see them go to waste so I use them to make this easy bread.  If you cannot use your bananas right away, ripe bananas freeze well so you could make it another time. Just let the bananas thaw out before making it so you can mash them up well.

You will need:

2 to 3 very ripe bananas, peeled (about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups mashed)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
½ cup of sugar
1 large egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of all purpose flour
Optional:
½ cup of chocolate chips, chopped walnuts or pecans, craisins or raisins.

Preheat oven  to 350 degrees and butter a 9” x 3” loaf pan. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Pour in the melted butter, mix in the baking soda and salt, and stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract and flour. At this time you can add in ½ cup of whatever you choose, chocolate chips, raisins, craisins, etc.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool 10 minutes before removing from the pan.  Can be eaten warm or cool.

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