Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

Hello and happy almost end of February! It has been a long and busy month over here as we work through some big projects and plan for the year ahead. I am very behind on making any content this month, but I am honestly glad for the break. I think the winter time is always the best to become inspired and revisit why we love this job so much. After much rest, I am finally looking forward to spring and all that it will bring with it.

Today, I wanted to share with you some delicious and moist Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread. This is based off my go-to banana bread base that I have been using for years, and it adds in some delightfully romantic notes of ripe red raspberries and chocolate. The perfect treat for the month of love!

I also wanted to share this incredibly beautiful dress from my friends at Son de Flor. They just released the first part of their new spring/summer 2023 collection, and it is just lovely! I decided to go with the Opehlia Dress in the new Teal Blue color. Isn’t it so pretty? I love the ruffled collar detail and the shape of the sleeves. It feels like the perfect dress for spring paired with tights or stockings and a little clog.

As we approach the spring months, we are beginning to slowly empty out our pantry stores. I always find that I make lots of banana bread in late winter and early spring. Seeing as we spent the winter going through the loaves that I baked and saved in the freezer, my stock is usually running low this time of year! I love that chocolate is such a wonderful ingredient for wintery baked goods. I just makes you feel warm and cozy and a little bit lovely.

The Method:

Making banana bread is rather simple, so there are not many tips that I can share with you. One thing that I struggled with for years was having baking soda issues in my bread. I would take a bite of banana bread and in spots of the loaf, it would taste chemically or like bits of baking soda that had not been fully mixed in. I always blamed it on me not fully blending the dry ingredients well enough.

What the issue really turned out to be was not having enough acidity in the loaf to activate the baking soda and truly blend it into the bread while it was baking in the oven. I spent many years baking my banana bread with only sour cream, which just was not doing the trick. What ended up changing my bread was using buttermilk, as the acidity in the buttermilk activated that baking soda and solved all of my problems!

If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can still fix this issue! Simply replace about 1 tablespoon of milk with lemon juice. Let the mixture sit on the counter for about 5 minutes while the milk curdles, and voila! Instant “buttermilk” for your bread. This recipe also has extra lemon juice added into for flavor, so you are safe.

I hope that you enjoy this delightful little February recipe! I am really looking forward to the content that we have planned for March as we exit this wintery weather and look forward to more sunlight. Until then!

My dress is from Son de Flor’s new SS23 collection!

My cheese board is from my friends at Hither Lane.

xoxo Kayla

Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

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Yield: 1 loaf

Author: Kayla Lobermeier

Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

Ingredients

Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup mashed banana
• 2 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks
• 1 cup fresh raspberries, dusted in flour

Mocha Glaze

• 1/4 tsp espresso powder
• 1 tbsp heavy cream
• 1 tbsp black coffee
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Grease and flour a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Set this aside while you prepare the batter.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the eggs, mixing them in one at a time, until they are fully incorporated, about 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the dry ingredients, the buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and mashed banana. Stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until the batter is the consistency of thick pancake batter. Be careful not to overmix.
5. Gently fold in the chocolate chunks and raspberries.
6. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake the bread for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For a softer bread, left the toothpick come out a bit crumbly but not soupy or wet. Let the bread rest in the pan for about 5-10 minutes before moving it to a wire cooling rack.
7. To make the glaze, whisk together the espresso powder, heavy cream, and coffee. Whisk this mixture into the powdered sugar until a thin glaze comes together with the consistency of maple syrup. Drizzle this all over the banana bread once it has cooled to room temperature.
8. Serve the banana bread slice with fresh raspberries.

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