Baking with Little Miss: My Favorite Banana Bread Recipe

At this time last year I was a baking machine. I was just about 40 weeks pregnant and recently home full time with my then 2-year-old. Every day we were baking something new, but there was a LOT of banana bread (thanks to a toddler who went from devouring bananas to… not). It gave me a chance to play around with a few different recipes, and we enjoyed every last bite of those banana bread loaves!

This week I had the very surreal moment of making my favorite version of banana bread with 3-year-old little miss as my almost 1-year-old played on the ground. It felt like things had come full circle!
If you’re looking for a fun recipe to do with your kids, and don’t mind making the kitchen a bit messy in the process, here’s my favorite banana bread recipe. I hope you loooove the taste of bananas!

Banana Bread Ingredients

• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 c bread flour
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 7 to 8 ripe bananas, mashed (around 2 cups; I tend to collect ripe bananas in the freezer until I have enough. The day I make banana bread I put them out on the counter a few hours before to thaw).
• ½ c unsalted butter
• ¾ c brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• Chocolate chips, to taste (I do about ⅓ cup)

Directions

1. 1. Prep a 9×5 loaf pan with a bit of vegetable oil, and set the oven’s temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
   2. In one bowl, start by stirring together the bread flour with the salt and baking soda. Set aside.
   3. With a mixer on the lowest setting, cream the butter along with the brown sugar. While the mixer does its job, mash the ripe bananas with a fork (this is my toddler’s favorite thing to do! And with doing at least 7 bananas, she tends to nibble on “frozen bananas” as she mashes).
   4. Add the eggs into the butter/sugar mixture, and continue to mix on the lowest setting.
   5. Add in the mashed bananas, and finishing mixing.
   6. Once it’s all well mixed, pour the banana mixture into the flour bowl. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour, and stir just enough so that the flour is blended in.
   7. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips.
   8. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for about 45 minutes. To make sure it’s done, stick the center with a knife, and VERY little dough should come out… we like ours just a tad underdone!

Oh, and don’t forget to save a little batter for yourself, and maybe the kiddos too. And, yes, I was enjoying the banana bread so much I forget to take a final pic of the banana bread before the family started devouring it. It’s that good! Enjoy!

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