I know it sounds bad, but I love getting dirrty…with my desserts! For me, all the cleanses, diets, exercise trends and healthy living needs to be balanced with some dirrty down time. Baking dirrty desserts makes all that extra discipline and effort worthwhile!

I’ve been baking for years. Lucky for me I have a HUGE sweet tooth! I even remember baking cookies for my high school volleyball team to have with us when we traveled to games. As I got older, baking was a way to connect with people. Going to a potluck, bake a cake. Holiday dinners, roll out some festive cookies. Early morning meeting at work, make some killer banana chocolate chip bread to make the time pass quicker!

Banana chocolate chip bread is my go to item to bake. It’s not something you can do on a whim since the best banana bread has really overripe bananas in it to amp up the flavor. So unless you have bananas on hand that are already turning to the dark side, you’ll need to plan out when you’re baking and when you’ll need the ‘nanas.

Everything else is standard for making this recipe I found years ago. Flour, sugar, eggs, oil.

But the key ingredient, the one that goes hand and hand with the bananas, the Ginger of Fred’s dancing routine…the dark chocolate chips!

While it may not seem like much, the difference between milk and dark chocolate chips is huge. The dark chips are richer, gooier, much more dirrty! And depending on which dark chips you get, they can add depth to the taste. I prefer Hershey’s dark chocolate chips because they don’t over power the rest of the bread. Feel free to go with a chip that has more cocoa in it if you prefer that punch.

I’ve been scolded many a time over the years for bringing this dessert to work since it’s so tempting to those who are trying to stay “good”. I can’t help it if being dirrty is so much more fun than being good!

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Adapted from Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 small)

1/2 cup shortening (I usually use corn oil)

2 eggs

1 cup dark chocolate chips (I prefer Hershey’s)

OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I prefer to abstain from nuts in most of my baking so that everyone can enjoy!)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ loaf pan (or line with parchment paper). In one bowl, mix the dry ingredients together for even distribution. In a separate bowl, mash up your bananas so that there aren’t any large clumps left. Pour the bananas, eggs and oil into the dry mixture and combine. It should be a thick batter. Add the chocolate chips until it’s just combined in the batter. Pour the batter into the pan and put in the oven. Bake for 60-65 minutes. Be sure to check the center with a wooden pick or cake stick; if it’s still gooey in the center, bake for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven when done and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then on a baker’s rack until completely cool (if you can wait that long to dig into the deliciousness!).