Chunky Monkey Banana Bread

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Chunky monkey banana bread is full of bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate. It’s fantastic with a cold glass of milk.

I’m basically a selfless mom for continuing to make my kids banana recipes. After all, it’s their fault I became allergic to bananas.

Yet here we are and I’m sharing another version of my chunky monkey combo.

I first shared my chunky monkey muffins and then moved on to chunky monkey smoothies. I can’t get over the combo of peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate, so I turned the muffins into a quick bread!

You see, I didn’t used to be allergic to bananas. Bananas were one of my favorite foods, and topping peanut butter toast with banana slices is probably a top ten breakfast for me. But when I got pregnant, I developed Oral Allergy Syndrome for bananas. Kids ruin everything.

All jokes aside, this chunky monkey banana bread is an excellent snack.

I’m not sure if the idea of “chunky monkey” came from Ben & Jerry originally, but I’m happy to roll with the concept.

After all, it’s hard to resist the combination of banana and peanut butter. (PB and banana was my favorite snack before I had kids.)

Add chocolate and it pretty much can’t be beat.

what kind of pan to use for quick bread

While most everyone has some sort of loaf pan in their kitchen, not all loaf pans are the same.

They can come in a few different sizes. They are made of different materials such as metal, glass, or ceramic. All of these factors make a difference when it comes to how long to bake banana bread, zucchini bread, or any other quick bread.

For this recipe, I use a 9x5x2.5-inch metal pan, which is slightly larger than what is considered a “standard” loaf pan of 8.5×4.5×2.5. If you only have the smaller pan, make sure to only fill it 2/3 full and bake any excess batter in muffin cups.

Glass and ceramic pans are insulators, which means they take longer to warm up initially, but conduct heat well throughout. This means your bake can be more even overall and get done quicker, so check for doneness in increments before the set timer time.

For any pan, I like to use nonstick spray as well as lining with parchment paper. Leave a small bit of overhang on the sides and it will be a cinch to pull out the baked loaf.

how to freeze banana bread

I make banana bread to use up uneaten bananas, but transforming the fruit doesn’t necessarily mean that the bread will magically disappear.

Fortunately, it’s incredibly easy to freeze banana bread. Depending on how snacky I think my family is feeling, I choose one of two methods for freezing.

The first is to freeze the whole loaf. Once the loaf has cooled, wrap it in freezer paper, folding in the edges. Then, wrap it again with foil, alternating the direction from how you wrapped it with the freezer paper.

To thaw the whole loaf, thaw in the fridge overnight. You could also thaw it on the kitchen counter, but the slower thaw in the refrigerator helps keep the best texture of the banana bread.

You can also freeze individual slices for quicker snacks. I like to cut 1-inch slices, then wrap each slice in parchment. I stack the slices inside a Ziploc bag, and then whenever someone wants a slice, you can just pull it out and pop it into the microwave or toaster oven.

recipe substitutions

If you are a peanut-free household, this recipe is also excellent using cashew or almond butter.

I have not tried this recipe with sunbutter. If you do, reduce the baking powder to 1 1/4 teaspoons to avoid a reaction that can give the finished loaf a green tinge. Don’t worry though, this is completely harmless!

If you love bananas, check out these recipes for banana millet muffins, banana split popsicles, or banana split dump cake.

Chunky Monkey Banana Bread

Chunky monkey banana bread is full of bananas, peanut butter, and chocolate. It's fantastic with a cold glass of milk.

Author : Megan Myers

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings 12

Calories 300 kcal

Ingredients

  

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• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup peanuts, optional)

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Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9×5 loaf pan with nonstick spray or butter.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix together peanut butter, sugar, and bananas until well-blended. Mix in eggs one at a time, then stir in milk and vanilla.
• Carefully stir in flour mixture, taking care to not overmix. Once no dry streaks remain, fold in chocolate chips.
• Pour batter into prepared pan, then scatter peanuts over the top. Bake for about 60 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick inserted into the center. It will be done when no batter clings to the toothpick and the loaf is golden brown.
• Let cool 10 minutes in pan before removing to a cooling rack.

Recommended Products

• USA Pan 1 1/4 Pound Loaf Pan
• 120 x Parchment Paper Sheets (16 x 12 inch)
• OXO Good Grips 3-piece Mixing Bowl Set

Nutrition

Calories: 300 kcalCarbohydrates: 43 gProtein: 8 gFat: 13 gSaturated Fat: 4 gCholesterol: 33 mgSodium: 258 mgFiber: 3 gSugar: 20 g

Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate based on online calculators. Any nutritional information found on Stetted should be used as a general guideline only.

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