Banana Nut Chocolate Chip Bread

When there's a bunch of overripe bananas in the fruit bowl, the only thing to do is make banana bread. I have been obsessed with eating banana bread for breakfast and as a snack. By itself, bananas are not my favorite fruit, and I rarely eat them if ever; the texture doesn't please my mouth too well. But banana bread is the best way to get rid of the texture while keeping a good taste. I realized that banana can be used in many different desserts, even substituting eggs, and I grew from avoiding them to liking them in banana bread exclusively. Still, I don't like to peel a banana and then hold the overripe, mushy parts, and I might never get over that. Regardless, banana bread is a simple dessert that can please the pickiest of eaters!

To start off, you cream together softened butter with some sugar and honey. If you wanted to reduce the amount of sugar, you could just do all honey or use a sugar alternative like coconut sugar. This recipe allows for a lot of substitutions and changes to fit your liking, which I find better if I am missing sugar but still want to make some delicious banana bread.

I used a hand mixer to cream these ingredients together. Add in an egg, or an egg substitute, and some mashed banana. I mash the banana until there aren't any chunks left, but if you like a more chunky bread, feel free to change it up.

Once that is blended up, I folded in the dry ingredients. They consist of flour (learn how to measure flour), baking soda, pumpkin spice (for a nice taste), and a pinch of salt. Use a spatula instead of a mixer for this step to make sure you don't overmix the batter. With this combined, I folded in the add-ins; toasted chopped pecans and chocolate shards. Fold everything together until it is homogeneous.

Pour the batter into any pan shape of your choice; I used a 6-inch cake pan, but you can also try muffins or a loaf. I also like to take a spatula and level the top of the batter to make sure it cooks evenly. For my pan, I baked the banana bread for about 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, and the time will depend on the thickness and size of your pan, so keep a watch on it.

Once the bread is done, take it out of the oven and let sit for some time to cool down. Then slice into it and enjoy! I love to eat this as part of my breakfast and as a snack throughout the day. I've grown to like bananas more because of this tasty bread. Try it out and see what kind of toppings you like to add.