Banana Chocolate Chip Mini-Loaves

I try to keep kitchen gadgets and items that aren’t used a lot to a minimum. Sure, I love to peruse the merchandise, but I can usually keep it in check. I said usually. There are a few stores around town that I will only enter a few times a year, if that often. One of them is Cost Plus World Market. They have some great inexpensive kitchenware, baskets and all types of foods from around the world. Belgian chocolate! Biscoff! Australian fudgy cookies! You can see what aisle I was (slurp) salivating in. I was there with Novio and he appears holding this really sweet min-loaf pan.  He never ceases to surprise me. I couldn’t resist. I gave him a squeeze. And the pan? I couldn’t resist that either. It proceeded directly to check-out.

Eight Mini-Loaves In One Tidy Pan

What to fill it with on its maiden voyage to the oven? Something with chocolate? But of course!

And it’s just during these times that I’m grateful for the Novio-reject chunks of banana that I always (almost always- plowed right through it –must buy more bananas) have on hand in a Zip-loc bag tucked away in the freezer.

Banana & Coconut: A lovely pair

Instead of milk or yogurt or sour cream, I opted for almond milk.

Did I forget the egg? Nope! Go dairy- free. Go eggless and guess what? You’re bringing your vegan friends joy. And in the process, you’re giving your own tummy a bit of a break. Which is a good thing. That’s what my tummy says.

If you don’t have a mini-loaf tin, like I didn’t before a week ago, no problem. This batter can easily be plopped into a 12-cup muffin tin and ta-da! You have 12 delicious muffins ready to go after about 23 minutes in the oven.  By adjusting times to a few minutes more, you can also do slightly larger loaves. Pick your pleasure and get yourself to the kitchen – you’ll be so happy you did!

cool muffins

To share or not to share

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MINI-LOAVES

Ingredients:

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly grease pan.

Mash bananas well with a potato masher.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat oil with brown and white sugar, coconut and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the mashed bananas.

Beat in half the almond milk. Stir in half the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated.

Add the second half of the almond milk. See how it’s coming together. You may need to hold back a tiny bit on the milk if your mashed bananas have lots of moisture.

Add the rest of the flour mixture and then the chocolate chips. Mix just until the flour is incorporated.

Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into pan.

Bake mini-loaves for 24-26 minutes. Turn tin around halfway through baking. For muffins, fill cups to the top and bake for 22- 24 minutes. Check with a toothpick. It should be dry or have one or two crumbs.

Makes  8 mini-loaves or 12 muffins. Best eaten that day or the next. Keep at room temperature up to one day. If you have any left, place in the freezer. They will be delicious when you defrost them.

Enjoy!