peanut butter banana bread with chocolate chips

Last week, I happened to have 3 brown bananas in the pantry. If you can tell, bananas are always my favorite snacks and from that point I have thoughts of doing banana bread. Then as I was browsing through Google Reader, this one popped up! Amazingly I've been looking for this concoction for years – peanut butter, chocolate and banana; ultra-yummy! Well I’m not a peanut butter junkie but I think those sweet guys will work well together. Don’t you think so? Zass! I’m glad that I have added the recipe to my rotation of banana bread options :)

My mum used to ‘ripe’ bananas from our backyard in the kitchen and for some reason, overripe bananas resulted in a better cake/bread taste. Don’t underestimate them! But if you wish to give a try on the recipe, the bananas don’t have to be totally brown, but the bread will have the most flavors and be the moistest if you use bananas that are at least speckled with brown spots; as they have ripened.

Ever since I've made my Red Velvet Cake I’m always getting excited with any recipe that calls for buttermilk. It does wonders in things like quick breads, muffins, etc. as it gives them a fluffy, moist texture. You can substitute plain yogurt for the buttermilk but if you don’t want to purchase a jug of buttermilk just for bread, I would recommend making your own with regular milk just like I did. Read more about buttermilk here.

Let’s talk about the combo. Hmm not much to say, but it was the coziest feeling I've ever had and the good thing is – the simplest recipes always provide a comforting result.  You can take just for about 10 minutes whisking and folding them all together (unless you are doing an awkward baking tutorial and having a serious lightning problem) and then into the oven it goes! I was so excited waiting for it to come out from the oven. It took a long time in there but sure it worth every minute! Ohh one more thing, I would probably use 4 bananas next time because I would love it to be more banana-y :)

What you’ll need:

Let's get started!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Recipe adapted from  Brown Eyed Baker

yield: 1 8x4-inch loaf pan

ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 medium bananas, mashed
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup buttermilk (or add 1 tsp. of white distilled vinegar to 1/3 cup of milk)
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x4-inch loaf pan and then line with parchment paper so that it hangs over the two long sides.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the banana, peanut butter, sugars, buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla extract until smooth.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and fold together with a rubber spatula until completely combined and there are no spots with raw flour. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

5. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan, smoothing the top into an even layer. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. If your bread appears to be browning too quickly, place a tented piece of foil over it (I did this at the 45-minute mark).

6. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. The cooled bread should be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap; it can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Notes:
– I've found that my bread is a little too sweet for me (though I have that kind of tooth). So be sure to lessen the sugar and PB amounts if you want to. 
Psttt. US sugars aren't too sweet like the ones we have here. Lesson learnt!

© sweetytoothy. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe .

dark chocolate chunk clementine muffins

Assalamualaikum and hi everyone!

Happy Chinese New Year to those who were celebrating! I know I’m late, well i just got a time to write something here (and i have some more treats lined up!).  Although I've been truly enjoying my time off, the last week has rudely reminded me just how miserable my student life was. I can’t tell you how. But if there’s one thing I do love about February, it’s the readily available citrus fruits at the local stores. Everywhere! I could eat 10 clementines in one sitting, but normally I set my limit to 5. No worries about scurvy over here! I also enjoy my fair share of oranges, but who can resist the little clementines that are so sweet and easy to peel.  We always have a box around during the holiday, so when I went to make some muffins a few weeks ago, I didn't have to go far to look for some inspiration. I think the combination of orange and chocolate is amazing (anything combo of chocolates actually!) and although my little sister was a little skeptical of this concoction at first, we all loved them!

I’m always looking for muffin varieties so I’m glad I went out on a limb here a bit to make this clementine one. They had just the right amount of bright, zesty citrus flavor without being overwhelming. And paired with the melting chocolate chips inside, I was in heaven. No I lied. You could totally use oranges in this recipe (or any citrus flavor, really), but as I said, I just happened to have a few leftover around so I went for the little guys. You can also use either freshly squeezed orange juice or store-bought like I did. Here’s the one I originally used:

The recipe is extremely straight forward and opens to adaptation. No beating! But they baked up really beautifully. If you love those chocolate oranges around the holidays, you’ll love this recipe too! They are kind of healthy (with ‘suka-hati’ substitution of butter to canola oil, mind you) and involves fruit. Even though I forgot to lower my oven temperature after the preheating and resulted to a little bit over-baking on the surfaces, they were just fine inside.  Here goes nothing! :)

Dark Chocolate Chunk Clementine Muffins

Recipe adapted from Annie's Eat

yield: 12 large muffins

ingredients:

for the muffins:

1-3/4 all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Zest of 5 clementines (or about 3 oranges’)

4-6 oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips (I used chips)

8 tbsp unsalted butter, melted (I used Canola oil and omitted salt)

2/3 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed or store-bought is fine)

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used orange flavor)

2 eggs

for the glaze (I skipped this):

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (200’C) and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners. (I recommend to you to lower the temperature to 180’C, depending on your oven watt)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and clementine zest. Stir in the chocolate chunks/chips.

In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, orange juice, vanilla, and eggs. Whisk well to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold gently until just combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling them each about 3/4 full.

Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the muffins are in the oven, prepare the glaze by combining the sugar and orange juice in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and brush warm glaze over the muffins as they cool.

© sweetytoothy. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe .