Chocolate Banana Bread

I don't know what I would do without the internet. Whenever I'm looking to make dinner or a dessert, I am constantly online searching through blog after blog. In the end, I always do some sort of amalgamation of different recipes, and this banana bread recipe is no different. This recipe comes in part from my friend's blog, "Veggie Monster", and another blog I follow, "Evil Shenanigans".

In my past experiences with banana bread, it has always come out very dense and brick-like. I wanted to find a compromise between the healthier aspects of my friend Rachel's bread and the cakey texture in Kelly's recipe. I think this recipe really captures that; it is very moist (from the bananas) but still on the lighter side for banana bread. 

If I made it again, I would consider adding the coffee from Kelly's recipe (I had none available) and either the chocolate chips or pecans from Rachel's recipe.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients

-3 defrosted ripe bananas

-1/4 cup olive oil

-1/2 cup natural (unsweetened) apple sauce

-1/4 cup white sugar (I ran out of brown sugar, so feel free to switch out)

-1/2 cup maple syrup

-3 eggs

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 and 1/2 cups flour

-1/2 cup cocoa powder

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-1/2 tsp salt

-1 tbs baking powder

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 10 in (mine was 8 in) loaf pan with non-stick spray. (You can also either use 6 mini-loaf pans or muffin/cupcake tins).

Defrost your frozen bananas (you can do this in the microwave). Mash them up with a fork or use a stick blender. Add the oil, apple sauce, white sugar, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well with a spoon or stick blender. Ideally, in a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, salt, baking powder. (I just added it all into the first bowl...less clean-up). Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and place in the oven for 55 minutes. (If your using mini-loaf pans or muffin tins, your times might be shorter). Check on the bread every so often during cooking time.

Enjoy your snack!