Oh, what to do when one has a huuuuge container of bananas in the freezer that needs to be either used up or disposed of?

Well, I guess I could have made frozen banana “ice cream”, but these suckers were *really* overripe, like gross and squishy, so in my mind they really didn’t lend themselves to something like an ice cream. Nothing to it but to make banana bread, then, and lots of it!

This recipe works well doubled or even tripled (which I ended up doing in order to use up more bananas), which will make a Bundt cake size pan as well as a large loaf pan or two small ones. These can also make kickass muffins; sprinkle a small amount of Demerara sugar on the tops of each muffin before baking for a super lovely treat!

Banana Chocolate Chip QuickBread

Yield: 8-12 Servings

• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup light brown sugar (I used granulated, but brown is nicer)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 overripe bananas (about 1 cup), peeled and mashed
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup soured milk or buttermilk
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a large bread pan with butter or shortening and set aside.

Sift all dry ingredients together. Set aside.

In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together well, add eggs one at a time, and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

Combine mashed bananas, sour milk and vanilla together; reserve ½ cup of flour mixture and combine with chocolate chips in a small separate bowl (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter as it bakes).

Quickly add the banana mixture alternately with the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour (best ratio is 2 banana to 3 flour). Mix just enough to incorporate most of the flour. Do not over-mix. Add chocolate chips and remaining flour mixture as very last step, mixing up only for a few seconds to distribute throughout the batter.

Pour batter into greased loaf pan and place in oven, immediately turning temperature down to 325˚F, for approximately 50-60 minutes. Rotate pan carefully every 20 minutes and check for doneness with a cake tester or toothpick. Let pan cool for 15 minutes, then demould loaf onto a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely.