TODAY Food Club

What’s your response to stress?

Do you crank the music to eleven and jump on the treadmill? Text your friends silly memes all day, hoping to spark a brief giggle? Clean the closets? Reorganize an already-sparkling pantry? We all have our own coping mechanisms for dealing with the current situation of the world. Mine is to cook… and eat, but I try to keep that in check by feeding others!

In times like these, I find myself going back to the recipes of my childhood. A time when I wasn’t thinking about public health, or if toilet paper would be stocked in the grocery store. Boo-boos were kissed away by your mom and there was a sense all was right with the world, even if you didn’t understand most of it. My hands start itching to make simple foods that will fill the house with warmth & memory. Banana bread is a quintessential American recipe that does just that.

My kids go ape for bananas (see what I did there? #momjoke) and I always have a rotation of yellow bunches on the kitchen counter. This recipe is great for overripe bananas, and I spruce it up a bit with premium cocoa, sour cream, and chocolate chips. My Double Chocolate Banana Bread comes out of the oven moist, chocolatey, and full of banana flavor. We love this bread for breakfast, especially with a cold glass of milk.

When my kids look back at this anxious time, I hope they remember their Mom & Dad as their safety net. Morning hugs, brothers as playmates, and maybe even the aroma of bananas, cinnamon, and chocolate in the cool morning air, will stick with them. I hope it’ll give our boys that sense of security & comfort that only home cooking can provide.

~ Jessie-Sierra Ross

Straighttothehipsbaby.com

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Original Recipe by Jessie-Sierra Ross

Straighttothehipsbaby.com

Servings: 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 3 large ripe bananas peeled & mashed
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted & cooled
• 1/2 cup regular sour cream
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon Turbinado sugar for topping optional

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• Take two bread pans and lightly grease them with butter. Add a strip of parchment paper (this lets the bread release from the pan a little more easily) lengthwise. Reserve.
• In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a potato masher. Add the melted & cooled butter, sour cream, brown sugar, white sugar, and 1 egg. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.
• In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking cocoa, baking powder and baking soda. Fork mix.
• Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl with the wet mixture. Stir to just combine. Don't overmix this.
• Next, add your chocolate chips and gently mix to incorporate.
• Portion your banana bread batter evenly between the two prepared bread pans and smooth the top evenly with a rubber spatula or small offset palette knife.
• Sprinkle the batter with turbinado sugar.
• Bake for 50 minutes at 350F, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of each loaf comes out cleanly.
• Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack. Let the bread cool in the pan completely.

Notes

This banana bread freezes very well, in case you want to have some in reserve!