Don’t these cold rainy days make you want stay indoors and bake delicious sweets?  This Double Chocolate Banana Bread is a new King family staple because as you might of gathered, we are all for anything that gives us chocolate for breakfast.  We seem to always have extra ripe banana’s around so when my favorite food blogger Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen posted this bread last year I was totally game.  What makes it so decadently dark is the dutch process cocoa, but it totally works out with normal cocoa as well.  I added a bit more sugar than Deb because I thought it tasted better that way, but if you don’t like your sweet breads very sweet reduce sugar to 3/4 cup.  If you come to my house you can choose from a variety of breakfast chocolates: hot cocoa, nutella waffles, chocolate zucchini muffins and now we also offer this amazing double chocolate banana bread!

3 medium-to-large ripe bananas (the more ripe the better!)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar (Deb uses dark brown, but I never have that around)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips – I use a combo of bitter and semi-sweet

Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×5-inch loaf pan, or spray it with a nonstick baking spray – I also put a little rectangle of parchment in the bottom for guaranteed easy turn out, but that’s up to you.

Mash bananas in the bottom of a large bowl.  Whisk in melted butter, then brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Place baking soda, salt, cinnamon (if using), flour and cocoa powder in a sifter or fine-mesh strainer and sift over wet ingredients. It’s okay if you don’t want to sift, but it will make any lumps in your cocoa go away.  Stir dry and wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks or chips.

Pour into prepared pan and bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free.  Cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. I sometimes sprinkle with a little powdered sugar or a dollop of whip cream.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen Double Chocolate Banana Bread