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I really do make things other than desserts.  I know you won’t believe me if you’ve only been following my blog recently.  For some reason, I have been exclusively posting these decadent treats.  But I think you’ll thank me for this one!

We were baking bread today and one of my tricks is to bake something while the bread is rising in order to provide heat for the rising process without wasting a hot, empty oven.  My kids decided cookies were the perfect thing to bake, but I was out of baking powder.  How in the world does that happen?  Anyway, I wanted to have a recipe that only used baking soda and I really wanted to utilize oatmeal.  After a short trip on Pinterest, I found a recipe that my kids could easily make.  They decided to change it up and this is what they came up with!

[ultimate-recipe id=”1952″]

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I love this recipe.  I found it years ago when someone shared it on Facebook, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t find the original location to give credit!  One of the things I love about this recipe is that it contains 6 bananas.  That’s a ton!  I don’t know about you, but when I have extra bananas, I have quite a few and my regular banana bread only takes 1!  So this is a great solution for the over ripe banana problem.  Second thing I love about it is that it holds up beautifully to substitutions.  I have a Vitamix dry container and use it to grind local wheat and spelt for flour.  But when I do that, some things just turn out really dense and wheaty.  In this recipe, I cannot tell that I used wheat flour, or raw sugar, or greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  It’s just amazing and decadent every time!  So without further ado, here is your next party pleaser.  Make sure you bring copies of the recipe with you when you take it somewhere because people will be asking!

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 c. butter, softened

2 c.  sugar

4 eggs

6 bananas, mashed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 c. whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 c. sour cream or plain greek yogurt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9×5 inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Stir in bananas and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda, and cocoa powder; mix well. Blend in sour cream and chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a loaf comes out clean.

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My friends have the best recipes!  This one was passed to me a few years ago and it is very well worn!  It’s a chocolate cookie with chocolate chips – or peanut butter chips.  Completely delicious!  They also work well straight from the freezer.  In these pictures, I show how to put them on a tray to freeze.  Then just throw the frozen balls in a zip top bag in the freezer and you’re ready to put a handful in the oven when you have company unexpectedly stop by!  You may need to add a minute or two to the cooking time, but I haven’t noticed a significant difference.

I also find that when I deliver a meal to a friend who is sick or had a baby or just returned home from a funeral, I can bring them this way.  The dough is wrapped in parchment paper and tied with a  ribbon.  I write the cooking instructions in permanent marker on the cookie cylinder.  Then all they need to to is spend 10 minutes cooking them for fresh baked dessert deliciousness!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream:

1c. butter

2c. sugar

Add until mixed:

2 eggs

2t. vanilla

Add:

2c. flour

3/4c. baking cocoa

1t. baking soda

1/2t. salt

When the ingredients are all incorporated, add 1 package of chocolate chips or peanut butter chips and stir until just mixed.  Place on cookie sheet a few inches apart – do not bake them as close together as these pictures show.  I was freezing mine raw, so I didn’t need space for them to spread.  Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.  Don’t over bake them.  You want chewy and decadent, not hard and crunchy!

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