Chocolate and Cinnamon-Swirled Banana Bread to Cure Those Morning Blues

Every week, we spotlight a different food blogger who’s shaking up the blogosphere with tempting recipes and knockout photography. Here, Alana Kysar of Fix Feast Flair explains her obsession with banana bread and shares a tempting version swirled with chocolate and cinnamon.

Photos courtesy of Alana Kysar

By Alana Kysar of Fix Feast Flair

There is something extremely comforting and nostalgic about banana bread. It reminds me of my childhood and almost always elicits a private smile. The kind of smile that you smile to yourself, knowing that you’re about to experience something great. And I get it, it’s just banana bread. But maybe it’s so much more.

I can remember falling in love with chocolate chip banana bread when I was ten or so. I was with my dad, at a friend’s home, and his wife offered up a slice of chocolate chip banana bread. I was wowed. The mere addition of chocolate forever changed the banana bread game for me. All of a sudden, it was no longer this mundane loaf but rather something extraordinary, exciting, and definitely better than anything I had experienced before.

But then there’s this marbled chocolate-cinnamon version. This combination is out of this world. It’s the stuff dreams are made of.

I always get in trouble for over-buying bananas and then having a big bunch of spotted bananas sitting in the fruit basket. But that’s why banana bread was created right? And that’s why it’s so loved.

Related: Apparently You Can Make Bread Out of Ice Cream and It Tastes Rad

Marbled Chocolate-Cinnamon Banana Bread
Makes 1 loaf

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon plus ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup coconut oil
4 medium bananas, very ripe, mashed
2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
½ to 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease loaf pan and set aside.

Sift together flour, baking soda, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, and salt into mixing bowl and set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat granulated sugar, light brown sugar, and eggs on high until light and fluffy.

Turn down to low speed and drizzle in oil. Add mashed bananas, creme fraiche, and vanilla bean paste and beat on low till just combined. Remove bowl from stand and fold in dry ingredients. Set aside one cup of batter.

Heat chocolate chips in microwave in 30 second increments until just melted. (For a lighter, fluffier consistency, add ½ cup. For a fudgier consistency, add 2/3 cup.) Add melted chocolate and remaining ¾ teaspoon cinnamon to reserved banana bread batter and stir until just combined.

Pour banana batter into greased loaf pan. Spoon dollops of the chocolate-cinnamon batter over the pan (or pans) and swirl in with a knife or chopstick.
Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool in pan.

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