Cinnamon Swirl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Flobots – White Flag Warrior

I know we’re more than a week into it but seriously, freaking September?!

I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s the age we live in now where the world is at our fingertips, but when I was a kid a year felt like a year. On top of that, the month of December felt like a year too. I mean, should I be like retail stores and start with my holiday posts now? Just to stay caught up and relevant?

Tally this one up as my first fall post. The cinnamon swirl easily brings this banana bread to the top and the cinnamon streusel is what pushes it over the edge. Throw in chocolate chips for good measure and you’ll get the perfect pairing to your Pumpkin Spiced Latte.

Cinnamon Swirl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread          (slightly adapted from a blog who got it from another blog who got it from Sandwich Hoss)

Bread:

4 each ~ Bananas, over ripened, smashed up
1/3 cup ~ Butter, melted
3/4 cup ~ Brown Sugar
1 each ~ Egg
1 teaspoon ~ Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon ~ Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon ~ Salt
1 1/2 cups ~ Flour
3/4 cup ~ Chocolate Chips
1/2 cup ~ Walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cinnamon Swirl:

1/3 cup ~ Sugar
1 tablespoon ~ Cinnamon

Cinnamon Streusel:

2/3 cup ~ Brown Sugar
1/4 cup ~ Turbinado Sugar
1/2 cup ~ Flour
1 teaspoon ~ Cinnamon
4 tablespoons ~ Butter, cold

Notes:

• Like all other banana breads, you’ll need a loaf pan for this.
• I don’t know if you’re a regular at banana bread, but if you’re not, here’s a tip – Always use over ripened bananas. Those are the bananas that look like this or even blacker:

• Stop smacking your forehead, it’s ok. You didn’t know, you just thought they were bad so you always threw them out. Well now you know.
• And knowing is half the battle.
• Why are ripened bananas always used? I’m glad you asked! Well besides the fact that they have anti-cancer qualities and a much higher level of antioxidants, over ripe bananas are almost always favored for baking. Their starch content has converted to sugar so the banana flavor has been heightened and it’ll be a much sweeter taste rather than a bitter one from a green or regular yellow banana. Not to mention they’re easier to mash up.
• I made the streusel first. It doesn’t matter the order, but it gave me something to munch on while making the rest of it.
• Oh come on, don’t judge me. I know I was basically eating butter but heck, you try to only have one bite.

Alright, let’s go bananas.

B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

• Turn your oven on to 350 and butter and flour the loaf pan.

• For the streusel mix the sugar, flour, and cinnamon together then use a fork to cut in the cold butter. Remember, the colder the butter the better. You’re looking for.. well you’re looking for something that looks like streusel. Set it aside when you’re done and try not to eat it all, Paula Deen.

• For the swirl, just throw the sugar and the cinnamon together in a small bowl and mix together. Set it aside too.

• For the bread batter, mash up the bananas nice and good and add everything to it except the flour. Mix it till it’s all together and once it is, add the flour and mix until just combined. If you still see a small clump of flour or two it’s ok. Overmixing will cause the bread to be rubbery and nasty thanks to all the gluten you developed.

• From here, add the chocolate chips as well as the walnuts (if you’re going to use them) and fold them in. When incorporated, slowly pour half the batter into the bread pan. On top of that, sprinkle the swirl mixture.

I made this once after I did it for this post and I tried to double the swirl because you know me and cinnamon. Yeah, it was like a banana bread and cinnamon swirl sandwich. The two halves were slipping and sliding, the entire loaf was one big mess. It was one of those things you just don’t like to admit ever happened and no matter how hard you try to forget you know deep down inside you really truly messed something up big time. And then the salt in the wound when you tweet or post on G+ that you’re making it and then people expect pictures afterward. The one time you wish someone wasn’t paying attention…

• Anyway, you got the swirl on there, next, again, slowly pour the second half of batter on top of the swirl mixture. Once that’s done, if you have any more streusel left that you haven’t eaten, go ahead and layer it on top.

• Pop the pan in the oven for a good 50-60 minutes. Try and find a naked corner with no streusel so you could poke it with a toothpick to make sure it’s done. Let it cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before you try to take it out of the pan.

And that be that. This is my first banana bread recipe I’ve posted on here but I’ve made a couple in the past. Needless to say, this one is clearly the best I’ve ever made. There’s chocolate, a thick ribbon of cinnamon, and streusel. Freaking streusel! I love that stuff! When I die I want to be buried in streusel.

Streusel all the things!!

Now excuse me as I go stock up on canned pumpkin.

The song – White Flag Warriors by Flobots. For obvious reasons