Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Its been a long time since I posted. Since my last post (which was apparently on December 6th) I managed to fly home for Christmas, fly back to California for a week, pack up my life, and drive it half way across the country to Minnesota.

I had a moving company move all my stuff for me. After I'd been in Minnesota for about two and a half weeks, my stuff arrived. As you can imagine, sleeping on an air mattress and sitting on my living room floor to watch TV had gotten old, fast. So, I was VERY excited for my couch to arrive. When the moving man saw the layout of the apartment, he said there was no way they were getting my couch in. I was devastated (and of course didn't believe him - he'd only been moving furniture for 20 years. How could he know?).

So, I had him put the couch in my garage while I figured out a plan. Luckily enough, Kimba was coming to visit two weeks later. Aside from all the cooking and eating we were planning on doing (posts on that to come...soon?), I told Kim to prepare for a couch moving adventure as well. The couch was heavy and bulky and we we looked like ridiculous fools trying to get it in the house, up my narrow stairwell and into the living room. Basically after a half hour of trying different couch manipulations, we gave up (but we DID at least get it into the kitchen!). I sadly posted the couch on craigslist and started my search for a futon - which I found later that week. Despite thinking (knowing?) that I have super woman strength, I was still going to need help getting this futon in my house. So, I solicited the help of two of the guys I worked with. This banana bread was my thank you to them for the help. Unfortunately, the only picture I took of the bread was with my cell phone...

Adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 C whole wheat flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 C amaranth flour
• 1 tsp baking soda (I like my boy Bob)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C butter
• 1/4 unrefined coconut oil (good oil should smell like coconut)
• 1/2 C cane sugar
• scant 1/4 C maple syrup
• 2 beaten eggs
• 2 1/3 C mashed, really really ripe bananas (I think I used ~6 bananas)
• 3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Recipe

1. Grease a loaf pan (butter + flour, or my girl Pam). Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
2. Combine the dry ingredients (flours, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl.
3. In a medium sized bowl, cream together the wet stuff (butter, coconut oil, sugar, syrup). Add in the eggs and bananas.
4. Mix in the dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and nuts. Combine until just mixed. Pour into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick/knife stuck in the middle comes out clean.

If you're not crazy about using the flours, oils, etc. you can just use 2 C flour, 1/2 C butter, and 3/4 C sugar.

Servings 10-18 servings (depending on slice size, obviously!)

Chocolate Cookies

These are "the cookies."

1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 ozs unsweetened chocolate
7 tbs butter
1 tsp coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
½ cup flour
½ tsp baking powder
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Melt chips, unsweetened chocolate, and butter in double boiler. Remove and set aside to cool.

2. Stir coffee powder and vanilla together until dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar. Add vanilla-coffee mixture. Add melted chocolate mixture.

3. Whisk flour and baking powder together. Fold flour mixture and additional chocolate chips into batter. Let stand for 20 mins until batter firms up. (Looks like brownie batter).

4. Roll cookies into 1 tbs balls. Bake 350 F for 11 to 14 mins.

Chocolate Mousse

My friend Arti came over for dinner on Sunday with the promise of making chocolate mousse if I cooked some dinner. She also made some delicious bruschetta too. She had gotten the chocolate deck for Christmas, a set of 50 recipe cards for decadent chocolate desserts. I encouraged her to go all Julie and Julia and try to make all the cards. The chocolate mousse was pretty easy although it suggests you chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. We did not have 4 hours so we cheated and threw the bowl in the freezer for about and hour and a half. It seemed to do the trick although some parts seemed to be getting a little more solid than mousse consistency. We were also a little worried when we were mixing the chocolate to the egg white and they seemed to be not stiff enough but it all turned out great at the end. It says it serves 4 but those four people better be ready for chocolate overload - 6 smaller portions seem more appropriate.

4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (we used semisweet but I think
bittersweet would be good too)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs, separated
pinch salt

Melt chocolate with cream in a double boiler (i.e., a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water). Whisk until smooth. Add half the sgar and whisk until blended. Add the rest of the sugar and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in one yolk at a time.

Beat eggs white and salt with an electric mixer on medium-high speed just to stiff peaks. Fold in 1/3 of the chocolate, repeat with the second 1/3 and then the rest until just blended.

Transfer to serving bowl, cover and chill for at least 4 hours if you want to do it right or cheat if you are not patient.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I wanted to bake something last weekend - so I made two bread recipes. This is the better of the two (because of all the delicious chocolate). The bread tasted the best right after it came out of the oven. It was warm, moist, and the chocolate chips were still a little melted. This recipe was originally a cupcake recipe. I didn't change any of the ingredients or ratios. So the bread is very crumbly - like a cupcake would be (but still delicious). I also think this would have tasted good with some added nuts (e.g. walnuts). Enjoy!

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C brown sugar
• 1/4 C melted butter
• 3/4 C oil*
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 C buttermilk
• 2 C grated zucchini
• 1 C chocolate chips
• 2 C flour
• 1 C cocoa, sifted
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

*The recipe called for vegetable oil. 101 cookbooks suggested using unrefined, scented, all natural coconut oil. I bought coconut oil - and found out when I got home that it was refined. So, it had no coconut aroma and I was VERY disappointed (because I love coconut). So, if you're going to the coconut oil route, go for the unrefined. If you're going to vegetable oil route, use half oil, half all-natural apple sauce. It will still be as moist and delicious - and slightly better for you than using all oil.

Recipe

1. Heat oven to 350 deg F. Grease 2 loaf pans (I like to use Pam Baking Spray because its easier than buttering and then flouring a baking surface).
2. In a small to medium bowl, combine the sugar, butter, and oil. Once mixed, add the eggs, one at a time. Then add the zucchini, chocolate chips, and buttermilk. Mix until combined.
3. In a large bowl add the remaining dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon). Once mixed, slowly add the wet ingredients (from step 2) until well combined.
4. Pour half of the mixture into each loaf pan.
5. Bake one at a time for approximately 35-45 minutes, until just done (or until no batter comes out on a knife inserted in the center).

Servings 2 loaves - probably 10-12 servings each?