Lemony Banana Bread

Lemon and bananas are frequent stars in quick-bread loaves, but they are not usually paired together. There are recipes for lemon cranberry bread, lemon yogurt bread, lemon blueberry muffins…and banana muffins, banana chocolate chip bread, honey banana bread bites…

But, why not lemon and banana bread? We loved this idea when we read Melissa Clark’s Lemony Olive Oil Banana Bread recipe (it’s one of many recipes we’ve tagged from her cookbook Cook This Now.) We make a lighter version by omitting the oil and doubling up the lemon by adding both lemon zest and lemon juice. The result? The cake is amazing: moist and caramelly with brown sugar, nutty with a good amount of whole wheat flour, generously chocolate- and banana-pocketed, with a good zing of lemon in the cake.

Melissa’s recipe instructs you to add chocolate, coarsely chopped. Our suggestion? Leave a good amount of colossal chunks of chocolate. They become big, melty chocolate puddles streaked throughout the cake. if we’ve done our job well, you’re already pulling out your mixing bowl to make these. Aren’t you?

Lemony Banana Bread
This is an intriguing riff off of banana bread because of one key ingredient: lemon. The sunny tartness of the lemon brings out the tropical notes of extra ripe, sweet bananas. Chocolate chunks are added, because, why not? Everything is better with chocolate.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chunks bittersweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if the batter is very thick

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray one 12-count muffin pan or a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest. Add the chocolate chunks and combine well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Add mashed bananas, yogurt, lemon juice, and vanilla. Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture, and fold until just combined. Add water as needed to keep a moist, loose batter, like thick pancake batter. Scrape the batter into prepared muffin holes or into the loaf pan.

Bake 18-20 minutes for muffins, 40- 45 minutes for loaf pan, until golden brown, but still moist in the middle. Better to err on under-baking versus over.

Adapted from Cook This Now: 120 Easy and Delectable Dishes You Can’t Wait to Make, 2011

image from Alexandra’s Kitchen