How to Convert a Recipe to Chocolate: Chocolate Banana Bread

It happens to all of us. You're puttering around in the kitchen, cooking something, when it strikes you.
This recipe would be better if it was chocolate!
But how do you do it? How do you take your humble recipe and convert it to chocolaty heaven?

Fear not, I am here to help.

There are two ways to make your recipe chocolate, one using unsweetened baker's chocolate, the other using cocoa powder. Both can be demonstrated using my basic Banana Bread recipe.



Recipe #1

Recipe #2



Here's the original.

Banana Bread

3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Preheat the oven. 350* for a loaf, 450* for muffins. Lightly grease your loaf pan or 12 cup muffin tin.
In a large bowl, smash the bananas with a potato masher until fairly smooth. Add the honey, melted butter, egg, and vanilla.
Pour the flour in a heap in the middle, measure the baking powder and salt out on top, and mix it in with your fingertips. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until all the flour is incorporated, but do not overmix.
-For loaf: Scoop the batter out into the greased loaf pan, smooth it slightly, and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the center is raised and cracked and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
-For muffins: Scoop the batter into the muffin tin, using about 1/4 cup per muffin, trying to divide the batter evenly between the cups. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the muffins are lightly browned and spring back when poked.


The first method to turn this recipe Chocolate replaces a little of the butter with an ounce of baker's chocolate, the two are melted together over extremely low heat, and added to the recipe the same way you would add the butter in the original.

Mmm, chocolaty butter

 The recipe then becomes:

Chocolate Banana Bread (#1)

1/4 cup butter and
    1 oz unsweetened baker's chocolate, melted together
3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small pot, then proceed with the recipe.

The second method replaces a little bit of the flour with cocoa powder, and is the easier of the two methods. You can use this method with any recipe that calls for flour. I have used it successfully with cookies, cakes, breads, and of course, banana bread.

Chocolate Banana Bread (#2)

3 to 4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Make the recipe exactly as you would the plain banana bread, just adding the cocoa powder along with the other dry ingredients.

Mmm, chocolaty flour

My Banana Bread recipe is a very forgiving one, and particularly delicious. It never fails to turn out moist, tender, flavorful, and very good warm with lots of butter. It's a recipe I would recommend for beginners because if you get the quantities a little wrong, it still turns out fine. You can tweak this recipe any way you like. I always make it with Whole Wheat flour. If you like nuts in your banana bread, I wouldn't add more than 3/4 cup, at least the first time, until you know how much more (or less) nutty you like your bread. You could add chocolate chips, or whatever it was that made special the very best banana bread you ever ate. I promise it'll turn out good.
-Zay