Black Banana Bread
FitMenCook
My name is Kevin. My life changed when I realized that healthy living is truly a lifelong journey, mainly won by having a well-balanced diet and enjoying adequate exercise. By experimenting in the kitchen and openly sharing my meals, I learned that healthy eating is hardly boring and that by making a few adjustments, I could design a diet that could help me achieve my personal fitness goals. Our bodies are built in the kitchen and sculpted in the gym.
Cocoa powder is an ingredient that is used a lot in baking. What many people don’t know is that there’s another kind of chocolate powder: black cacao. This is made by neutralizing the acidity of cacao beans, giving it a less bitter taste. For today’s recipe, we will be using this ingredient in our black banana bread recipe.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 177°C. In a bowl, mix in 2 cups whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup cacao (or 60% dark chocolate) powder, three tablespoons black cacao, one teaspoon baking soda, and one teaspoon baking powder. If you cannot find any black cacao, you can use black or Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Add a pinch of salt to the mixture and adjust if necessary. Set this aside.
Don’t throw away those overripe bananas just yet. Place them in a separate large bowl and blend them using an electric mixer. The mixture should be smooth with a few little chunks. Add in three eggs, 1/3 cup coconut oil, one cup 2% Greek yogurt, and one teaspoon of Stevia or sweetener before blending again. The mixture should not have any clumps.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in small portions and stir continuously. If the mixture is too dry, you can add a bit of milk. The batter should have a thick consistency.
Fold in chunks of dark chocolate. You can also save some to use as a garnish for later.
Baking
Get a 9×5-inch loaf pan and spray the inside with some baking spray or olive oil. Pour the batter into the container and spread it out evenly. Add the remaining chocolate chunks.
Keep it in the oven for around forty to forty-five minutes, or until the batter has fully cooked through. You can check this by poking a toothpick into the mix. If it comes out clean, that means that the brownies are ready.
Take it out of the oven and let it cool before slicing and digging in.
Share this with your friends and family so you can enjoy these sweet, delectable treats together. Comment down below if you’d want us to make more banana bread recipes in the future.
Black Banana Bread
Ingredients for 15 slices
I used a 9-inch by 5-inch pan
- Dry
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup cacao (or 60% dark chocolate) powder
- 3 tablespoons black cacao – IF YOU CANNOT FIND IT, SIMPLY REMOVE
- Note: if you replace this with more dark chocolate powder, it will slightly increase the bitterness, which may be too much for some, so you’ll need to add more sugar or Stevia to compensate.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- Wet
- 5 ripe bananas, chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Stevia in the raw
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (optional but recommended; just add less if needed)
- Set oven to 350F/177C.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- Add ripe bananas to a larger bowl and blend together using a hand mixer. Blend until smooth with only a few small chunks, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add remaining wet ingredients to the bowl, then blend until smooth.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue stirring so it doesn’t clump. If the mixture is too dry, add tablespoons of (almond) milk until it thins out some. It should be a thick, smooth and somewhat sticky batter.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks – but reserve about 2 tablespoons for the topping garnish – using a spatula.
- Spray a baking dish (or muffin pan) with nonstick baking spray or olive oil, then add the batter. Top it off with the remaining chocolate chunks.
- Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top has hardened and splintered, and you can pierce the bread with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Allow it to cool for a few minutes before removing it from the baking dish and slicing.
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