Banana Chocolate Bread

I'll be the first to admit that my Super Bowl treats this year were not exactly your typical Game Day fare--"bananas" and "cocoa" and "bread" are less synonymous with football as "wings" and "beer" and "Doritos," but I wanted to bake something from my new cookbook, Baking: Perfect Cakes & Bakes by Rosie's Pantry. And I knew my fellow football viewers were fans of "fruit" and "chocolate" and especially, "dessert."

The only trouble I ran into with this one was that the recipe I wanted to use called for self-rising flour, of which I had none. After a quick Internet search, however, I discovered I could make my own self-rising flour with just 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt for every 1 cup of flour. It must have worked, because this bread rose higher than I expected! I also changed the original recipe from butter to oil in an attempt to make the banana bread just a touch more moist. And again, I took advantage of the mini chocolate chips I had on hand to complete this tasty Banana Chocolate Bread that is practically cake.

Ingredients:

1 and 3/8 cups of self-rising flour (see above)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 ripe bananas (the brown kind)
2 eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/8 cup white sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions: 

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the oil, sugar and eggs.

2.) Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, then add the milk. Beat together until well combined. Mash in the bananas until smooth, then stir in the chocolate chips.

3.) Bake in a loaf pan greased with nonstick cooking spray for about 40 minutes (the original recipe called for 50-60, but please check just before 40 minutes are up as mine still came out a little too "done" for my liking on the edges). Let cool completely before running a butter knife around the edges to loosen the bread. Cut your slices and serve.

I like new recipes, and I've never made a chocolate banana bread before, so I was quite pleased with the results. I was also pleased with the fact that all my slices (divided in half to last longer) were gone before the end of the third quarter. I think football rooting just makes you hungry in general--hungry for winning, hungry for fun, and hungry for snacks that don't have to be chips alone. Unless they're chocolate chips.