bea

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.