Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Peanut butter…. chocolate chips….. banana. This bread has got it all! You have to love a bread that features the trifecta of perfection when it comes to flavorful quickbreads: chocolate, peanut butter, and a mild dose of sweet fruit. These lovely loafs are also surrounded by a good dose of cinnamon-sugar, which is a favorite trick of mine — simply coating the loaf pans with cinnamon-sugar after buttering them makes the bread’s crust brown a little bit more as the sugar bakes into it. The outside has more texture and flavor, and the insides stay more soft and moist.

If you are reading this post and actually ate this bread, you are probably laughing at the fact that I am posting this peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread… you see, it was hilariously underdone when I served it to our friends one Sunday night. Luckily, I had extra batter, and ended up with one regular-sized loaf and one mini. I timed the mini loaf just fine… and then jumped the gun on taking the regular-sized loaf out of the oven! Although – thanks to the cinnamon-sugar coating – the loaf was crisp and somewhat browned on the outside, it was really squashy on the inside.

Lesson being: keep your peanut butter chocolate chip banana bread in the oven long enough! Use a toothpick (or wooden skewer, in my case) to test for doneness – you want it to come out of the loaf mostly clean. You can also press down lightly on the top of your loaf to see how firm it is (it should not give a lot under slight pressure, and spring back after you touch it). If I had done that, I think I would have been OK, since the undone part of my loaf was close to the top crust.

In terms of flavor… as I said, this bread has it all. What I loved about it was that while all the flavors – chocolate, PB, banana – were present, none were overpowering. Neither was it extremely sweet, although it definitely ranks closer to a dessert than a breakfast food. I do need to point out that although there was much laughter at my gooey, underbaked bread… there was also none left at the end of the night. This one is a crowd-pleaser!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Adapted from Sugar Plum

¼ cup cinnamon sugar, optional
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium ripe mashed bananas
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch loaf pan (and perhaps one mini loaf pan). Sprinkle most of the cinnamon-sugar onto the sides and bottom of the loaf pans; reserve 1-2 tablespoons for topping.

In a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together on medium speed banana, peanut butter, unsalted butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time; beat between additions. Add vanilla extract; beat until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add milk and flour mixture. Mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s); sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over the top. Bake for 50 minutes. Meanwhile, melt the additional tablespoon butter. After around 50 minutes of baking, remove loaves from oven and brush melted butter evenly over the top. Continue to bake an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool for 20 minutes in the pans before removing loaves and transferring them to a wire rack. Cool an additional 30 minutes before slicing.