Chocolate Banana Nut Bread

A delicious, moist, easy to make chocolate banana quick bread. Made with cocoa powder & applesauce – this decadent bread is almost guilt-free. 

This was originally posted on December 12, 2014.  I’ve updated the photos during some rainy day baking 🙂 

Chocolate Banana Bread, How I Crave Thee ♥

It’s a miracle, once again, that this batter even made it into the loaf pan.  Mixing this up, my daughter and I can’t keep sneaking spoonfuls of it.  It’s like a banana brownie batter…yum.

I crave this Chocolate Banana Bread often.  I’ll cruise the produce section looking for ripe bananas so I don’t have to wait days and days for the bananas to get extra ripe or “rotten” as my daughter refers to them. Plus, I can often grab ripe bananas at my grocery stores at a discount – score!

This chocolate quick bread eats almost like a cake.  The rich chocolate banana flavor, the texture and the scarce amount of oil – you’ll be amazed!

Oil versus Apple Sauce in Quick Breads

I used to make this bread with just the vegetable oil.  I tried substituting applesauce for the oil but wasn’t happy with the results.  The happy median is replacing half the oil with applesauce.  Substituting half the amount with applesauce makes the bread a bit healthier and keeps it moist without it getting “gummy”.  

As for nuts, I prefer this with walnuts.  You’ll notice in my photos I used almonds this time, only because I ran out of walnuts.  Truth be told, I sit here right now looking at a pretty bowl full of nuts on my table.  I was just too lazy to crack, pick and crush the walnuts.  I had a bag of  slithered almonds ready to go, with no work involved, so almonds it was.

Feel free to throw a cup of chocolate chips in the mix to make it extra rich.

Nice & Easy Baking

This is nice and easy to throw together. Whisk dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork and mix in eggs, oil and applesauce. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture. Add some chocolate chips if you’d like. Do not over mix. Pour into your loaf pan, sprinkle some nuts on top and throw it in the oven. You’re done.

This should be finished in about 55 -60 minutes, just check with the almighty toothpick test.  Cool it for about 20 minutes on a wire rack, remove the bread, and finish cooling on the wire rack.

I love this bread for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or a snack.   Any or all of the above in one day would suit me just fine.  It’s perfect served as is, with a big glass of milk.

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy baking!

Amanda ♥

Chocolate Banana Nut Bread

Amanda

A delicious, moist, easy to make chocolate banana quick bread. Made with cocoa powder and applesauce – this decadent bread is almost guilt free. Don’t waste those brown bananas anymore!

5 from 4 votes

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course Breads &amp, Muffins

Servings 1 loaf

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 6 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa heaping
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large very ripe bananas
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 2 tablespoon walnuts almonds or other nut, crushed
• optional 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Grease/spray a loaf pan.
• In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder. I use a whisk.
• In a small bowl mash bananas with fork or your preferred method.
• Mix eggs, oil and applesauce into mashed bananas.
• Add mashed banana mix to flour mix. Stir until blended – do not over mix.
• (optional) Fold in chocolate chips.
• Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake for 55 – 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan and let it cool completely on wire rack. Enjoy : )

Keyword banana, chocolate, quick bread