Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

From my kitchen / By

The neighborhood school is off today, so my 3 older kids are out with the neighbor boys, running amok.   In about an hour, a hungry horde of 9 or 10 ravenous children will descend on my house, so when they went out to play, I figured it was time to hurry up and bake them a snack.

Here’s my recipe:

Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread

(Also known as Banana-Yogurt-Hazelnut-Chocolate Bread, but that’s a mouthful!)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup hazelnut oil (or you could use a light olive oil)

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs (my hens lay eggs a between medium and large, so if you have really big eggs, use 2)

3 medium bananas, mashed

1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt (homemade is best, but a store-bought with strong tang, like Nancy’s, is a good alternative to balance the sweetness)

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts

1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine first 5 ingredients in a stand mixer with paddle attachment and beat until fluffy.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sift together flours, baking soda and salt.

Slowly add 1 egg at a time until combined.   Then add banana, vanilla, and yogurt and mix until thoroughly combined.  Add dry ingredients from bowl until just combined.

Fold in chocolate and nuts.  Pour into a buttered 9×5 loaf pan (I prefer a well-seasoned stoneware pan so the chocolate doesn’t stick!) and bake in a 350F oven for 1 hr 10 min – 1 hr 20 min, or until knife comes out fairly clean.

Let rest in pan for 10 minutes, then turn-out onto a cooling rack and let cool thoroughly before slicing.

A note on slicing:  Very moist and delicate quick breads are notorious for crumbling when cut.  Consider cutting very thick slices and then cutting those in half (almost like a piece of cake – shown in the bottom slice) to avoid this problem.  🙂

My kids love it with PB or hazelnut butter spread on top and some sliced pineapple, oranges or other sour fruit on the side to cut the sweetness.