Bea’s Favorite Quick Bread
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.