Banana Bread 2 Ways

One of the most valuable lessons I learned from living with EW was that almost-bad bananas could be salvaged by putting them in the freezer to use at a later date. This rule has allowed me countless opportunities to make this, and she has further used them to make this.

The problem with this lesson, is that the bananas in the freezer can start to pile up when you have no excuse to make the best and hugest birthday cake ever.* I decided it was time to make some banana bread, but my usual recipe has essentially the same sugar and butter content as the cake. So I started looking around for recipes with less butter and less sugar. Of course, there are all kinds of recipes out there. Some with apple sauce, some with sour cream, some with yogurt. But then there was this recipe with none of those things. Just the standards: bananas, flour, sugar, baking soda, and vanilla. The only addition this recipe has - cinnamon. Oh, and chocolate chips.

I decided to give it a try, and because I had so many bananas, I decided to make two batches, one with chocolate chips and one without. The chipless version is not the most delicious thing in the world (what can I say, butter does make a difference), but it's a nice alternative that's a wee bit healthier. And if you toast it and put some butter or cream cheese on it, it is the best thing ever. The cinnamon really makes a difference. The chocolate chip version, I am happy to report, is not lacking in the least from the missing butter. It's gooey and delicious.

* I did recently make a birthday cake. But the recipient is a chocolate lover, so I made this.