Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread

Happy Easter everyone!  The traditional Paschal greeting that everyone always says on Easter is “Christ is risen!”  and the response is “He is risen indeed!”  It’s always exciting when something rises.  Spring is is time for renewal of life as new plants rise from the ground and blossoms open up on the tree.  Every morning we rise out of bed to start the  new day.

Rising is a pivotal aspect of baking too.  Most breads, muffins, cookies, etc…require some sort of leavening agent to give them that fluffy texture that makes them so good.  As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve had while baking is making bread dough with yeast that successfully rises.  Yeast can be kind of fickle sometimes, especially when the baker is impatient.

The leavening agent in today’s recipe (and most of my recipes) is baking soda (aka sodium bicarbonate).  You only need a teaspoon of it, but if you forget it you’ll have a gooey tacky glob of baked dough instead of a moist, fluffy loaf of banana peanut butter bread.

Here’s the recipe I used!

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 mashed bananas

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup walnuts

12 oz chocolate chips

Oven temperature: 325 degrees Fahrenheit

Mix all ingredients together (adding walnuts and chocolate chips last).  I baked in a Bundt pan for about 50 minutes, although if you use a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan it may take a little longer.  These can also be made into muffins!