Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Bread

Picture this- it's Sunday morning, you're drinking a cup of steaming hot coffee, reading the newspaper or a book that you never seem to have the time to finish, and . . .  you're eating a slice of homemade banana bread! Not just any banana bread, peanut butter and chocolate added to make this a weekend treat that is so simple to make. You can even put a few slices in the freezer to have at a later time because who doesn't like banana bread.

Ingredients:

2-3 medium size bananas, (use bananas that are already turning brown, mushy)

2 cups of flour (all purpose) I used the NYC grains, Frederick Soft Wheat White, all purpose 

1 stick of butter, melted

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 of a chocolate bar (I used a 60% dark Trader Joe's chocolate bar, the purple label)

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of peanut butter

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a  9" x 12" loaf pan in preparation for the batter.  

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, vanilla, beaten eggs into the dry ingredients.  Mash the bananas in a separate bowl using a fork.  Add the mashed bananas and peanut butter to the large mixing bowl and fold in the ingredients until the dry ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.

Melt the chocolate bar in the microwave at 50% power for 20-30 seconds, stirring occasionally. Swirl in the chocolate into the batter in the loaf pan, creating some fun designs into the batter.  Place the loaf in the oven for 35-40 minutes, depending on the oven.  Bake until the loaf has browned slightly. You can also stick a cake tester, toothpick, into the center of the loaf to ensure that no wet batter remains.  Allow to cool and enjoy! Refer to your perfect weekend morning described above.