Double Chocolate Banana Bread

I've joked before that we either cannot keep enough bananas in the house or we have a pile of black ones waiting to be baked! There's no middle ground with my son-- either all or none! I've been playing with different types of banana bread and muffins, but was looking for something new for a change. I've added chocolate chips to my banana bread before, but never thought to do a chocolate base bread, much less a double chocolate bread! I wasn't sure how much of the banana flavor would actually come through with the amount of chocolate in the recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really held its own. There is a definite banana flavor to the bread and it goes so well with the chocolate foundation. This might be my new 'go to' recipe for ripe bananas.

**Melanie, at Sister's Cafe, stated that she preferred to use a Dutch Process cocoa when making her bread. I followed her advice and it really did make a big difference. You can use either, but if you have the Dutch Process available, I'd second her recommendation.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups mashed bananas (about 3)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Spray bottom of 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Beat sugar, eggs, and oil in large bowl at medium speed until combined. Beat in banana and vanilla at low speed. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; beat into banana mixture at low speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.

Source: The Sister's Cafe