Not Without Salt

Grandma always goes overboard at Christmas. With 14 grandchildren and by now I’ve completely lost tract of the number of great-grandchildren – just this year there will be three new babies (ours included), yet she blesses us abundantly. But no Christmas bag is complete without a fresh baked loaf of Grandma’s banana bread.

This year I nearly shed tears as I tore through my bag and found no banana bread. Everyone else proudly held their loaves and some began to devour them, while I was left loaf-less. Quickly grandma realized the tragic mistake and performed  a Christmas miracle by uncovering the missing loaf and giving it to its rightful owner – me.

Grandma graciously shared her recipe with me. Our family has made a few adjustments – like the addition of dark chocolate chunks – however delightful the additions are they aren’t necessary. Grandma’s recipe has been providing Christmas cheer for many years and hopefully many more to come.

Many of the changes I make in recipe are out of laziness. This recipe makes two loaves but rather then searching through my messy baking pan cupboard I blindly reached in and grabbed one loaf pan and a cupcake pan. Laziness pays off sometimes as the banana bread cupcakes were a perfect snack size for my little munchers.

And for frosting? A large smear of butter is just what it wants.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

6 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup canola oil (or coconut oil)

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs beaten

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

4 cups flour

1 bag dark chocolate chips (Ghiradelli 60% chips work nicely)

Mix in order. Fill two greased loaf pans 3/4 full. You can also bake these as cupcakes. Fill the pan 3/4 full and bake about 20 minutes in a pre-heated 350* oven.  The loaves generally take about an hour. For both the cupcakes and the loafs you want a knife or a toothpick to come out clean.

Cool completely. Serve with plenty of butter.

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