Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
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At the time of getting this recipe out, we’re just a bit over a week away from Christmas! When we’re deep into the holiday spirit, a good comforting dessert always hits the spot, especially when gingerbread is involved! Gingerbread is all around, from Gingerbread Lattes to Gingerbread Creme Brûlée, I’m all for it! Yes, I still have not made some classic gingerbread cookies… it sure is on my list!
Unfortunately the timing was really poor for me to get two of my wisdom teeth removed! Thankfully this was not done right before Christmas, but I have to admit that it’s been hard to get into the holiday spirit being in pain. Luckily, I baked this loaf of Holiday Banana Bread right before the surgery, and the banana bread was one of the few things I could eat since - as you’ll see if you try this easy banana bread recipe out - it’s just SO soft!
A delicious banana bread has been on my bucket list for the longest time. One of my favourite memories from traveling to Montreal to visit family was when my aunt would give me a loaf of banana bread. Personally, chocolate chips are the best part of a banana bread, so even though we’re going for the holiday vibes of gingerbread, I just had to throw in some chocolate chips!
You can serve your moist and soft Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread either hot or cold. I personally love it hot since the chocolate chips get really molten and delicious, and it’s amazing to pair with some ice cream! I even served mine with my High Protein Chai Ice Cream made in the Ninja Creami!
If you’ve been wanting to making the most delicious banana bread you’ve ever had, then now is the time to check it off your bucket list by preparing this Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread as part of your Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can start your cooking journey for free by signing up to my newsletter with my free resources and all my new recipes delivered right to your inbox!
Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post to see how easy it is to whip up this special Holiday Chocolate Chip Banana Bread! It would mean a lot to me if you could please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you’t not already, and don’t forget to hit the bell button so you get notified when my video recipes go live with the written ones! Let’s get baking!
Why You’ll Love This Holiday Banana Bread!
Gingerbread goodness: This is the time of year where everyone is having gingerbread everything! While I do love a good chocolate chip banana bread, we’re making this banana bread extra special by throwing in the warm spices of a classic gingerbread cookie.
Soft and moist banana bread: Not to toot my own horn, but this is definitely the best banana bread I’ve ever had! It’s so moist and fresh and you get incredible chocolate chips in every bite, along with the deep flavours from the gingerbread spice and molasses.
Easy to make: It was so effortless to make! Essentially we’re mixing ingredients and letting the oven do the work to create this awesome holiday banana bread!
Perfect for a crowd: Everyone loves banana bread! While you can serve these for breakfast for your family on Christmas morning, this would also be an excellent treat to take for pot luck parties!
How Do I know That the Banana Bread Is Done?
For the most accurate results, you would stick a thermometer in the centre of your loaf. The banana bread is done when centre reaches 200 degrees Fahrenheit. However, if you don’t have a thermometer on hand, the traditional tried and true test is to stick a toothpick in the middle. Once pulled out, it should be completely clean - no crumbs sticking onto the toothpick!
How Can I Quickly Ripen Bananas?
As I describe in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!!, if there is a recipe you really want to make, you shouldn’t have to take a trip to the store if you’ve got a suitable substitute to the ingredient you need! I bring this up because if you’re reading this recipe and you want to make banana bread right now but don’t have overripe bananas, there is no need to stress! You can quickly ripen the bananas you’ve already got on hand! There are two common approaches to quickly ripening bananas:
Paper bag: This is the method that I actually used to get the bananas ready for this recipe! All you need to do is place the banana bunch in a brown paper bag. Ideally, place the bananas next to sunlight so that the oxidation process can occur faster. If you’re like me and you have pretty much no sunlight in the winter, then leaving the paper bag on the counter will be fine! You’ll see with this trick that 24 hours in the paper bag can really do wonders!
Oven: If you need the bananas to be browned as soon as possible, then you can set your oven to 250 F. Place the bananas on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how ripe the bananas are starting out.
Tools Needed For Gingerbread Banana Bread
Ingredients for Holiday Banana Bread
The FULL PRINTABLE recipe card has the full list of ingredients and their quantities and the complete instructions for you to save for later! You can also use the recipe card to scale the ingredients based on how large of a loaf you want to make. I’m using a 1 lb loaf pan.
All purpose flour: The base of our Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I don’t recommend substituting with another type of flour as this can affect the taste and texture.
Bananas: Using overripe bananas is ideal because they will easily mash and blend into your banana bread batter. They will also be sweeter. However, you can get by with yellow bananas that have some spots!
Gingerbread spice: If you want a large batch of it, you can follow my recipe for Gingerbread Spice. Otherwise, you can directly add in ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground cloves, ground cardamom, white pepper and black pepper to the batter.
Salt: Salt is very important in desserts because it brings out all the sweetness in our banana bread!
Milk: A little bit to make the banana bread soft and tender. I’m using 2% cow’s milk, but any kind of milk should work here.
Vanilla extract: Always a must for desserts due to its soothing aroma!
Baking powder & baking soda: These help the banana bread loaf rise.
Eggs: Whole eggs bind all the ingredients together and gives the banana bread loaf a fluffy structure. It also prevents the loaf from breaking apart and becoming crumbly.
Chocolate chips: We’ll fold some into the batter and add more on top! I just love chocolate, so they were a must-have in this holiday banana bread recipe!
Molasses: Molasses really adds depth to the banana bread and gives an incredible holiday sweetness to the banana bread.
Butter: Unsalted molten butter. My preferred type of fat, I enjoy the flavour and this will add moisture and richness to the banana bread while helping to keep the bread soft. Some recipes call for oil, and the logic behind it is since oil is unsaturated, liquid at room temperature, it will result in increased moistness in the final banana bread. Using a neutral oil can also help keep the focus on the main components of the recipe, such as banana, chocolate and gingerbread.
Sugar: For sweetness and to contribute to the golden brown colour on the crust.
Brown sugar: Combined with regular sugar into our batter.
How to Make Gingerbread Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
For the gingerbread spice
To make this gingerbread spice recipe, all you need to do is mix all the spices together in a plate or shake the ingredients together in an airtight jar.
For the gingerbread banana bread
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with olive oil or butter.
In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, gingerbread spice and salt.
In a separate bowl mix the molten butter and the sugars. Whisk well until you get a thick, creamy mixture.
Using a fork, mash the bananas until they have completely broken down and are chunky. Give a whisk to smooth them out.
Mix in the mashed bananas, milk, molasses, eggs and vanilla extract with the butter and sugar mixture.
Once the wet ingredients are mixed well, fold in the dried ingredients and then the chocolate chips.
Pour this batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.
Start checking for doneness at the 50 minute mark. Add the extra chocolate chips about 10–15 minutes into baking to prevent them from sinking into the batter.
Allow the banana bread to slightly cool down for 10-15 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan. Then allow the banana bread to cool down to room temperature over a wire rack.
Enjoy!
Variations Of Holiday Banana Bread
Chocolate chips: Switch things up by substituting with or using a mix white or dark chocolate chips!
Dairy: For a tangier flavour, you can substitute the cow’s milk for sour cream or buttermilk. Each one will give a slightly different flavour to your banana bread, but all will do an amazing job at making it airy and fluffy!
Chopped nuts: If desired, you can add some roasted nuts into your holiday banana bread. almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, or pistachios will all be delicious here!
Topping: You could make a vanilla glaze or a Cream Cheese Glaze to add on top of the loaf. Feel free to garnish with some sprinkles for a holiday vibe! Otherwise, you could also drizzle on some Caramel Sauce, peanut butter, or Chocolate Mocha Syrup.
Tips for MOist and Delicious Holiday Banana Bread
Ideally you want to use overripe bananas for the sweetest banana goodness. Ripe bananas can do the trick as well if you’re really in a hurry to make this holiday banana bread today!
If you’ve already made Gingerbread Syrup for another gingerbread-flavoured recipe, then you don’t need to add the molasses and gingerbread spice separately! You can replace molasses with the gingerbread syrup and skip out on the gingerbread spice.
Tap the loaf pan after you add the batter to spread the batter evenly distributed and to remove any air pockets.
This banana bread recipe is moderately sweet. To increase the sweetness, you can increase both sugars and the molasses by a tablespoon each.
To check if the banana bread has finished baking, insert a wooden skewer or a knife down the middle of your banana bread loaf, and check if it comes out clean with some moist crumbs. Check more than one spot, if you hit a chocolate chip, the skewer/knife would appear wet.
As impatient as you may be, you really want to allow the banana bread loaf to slightly cool down before removing the loaf from the loaf pan. Caramelization during baking can result in some stickiness even if the loaf pan is greased. Cooling down the loaf for 10-15 minutes should be enough to safely remove the loaf to cool completely.
Allowing the loaf to cool completely at room temperature on a wire rack will ensure the outside is slightly crusty, instead of soft and moist and will result in a moist loaf overall.
Can I Use this Banana Bread Batter for Muffins?
Yes you can! Simply pour the batter into a muffin tray and bake as described here. The bake time may be a little shorter since the muffins will be smaller than baking the entire banana bread loaf.
Storing Gingerbread Banana Bread
How to Refrigerate Holiday Banana Bread
Be sure to allow the banana bread to completely cool before you store it in the fridge. I recommend you slice the banana bread loaf and place the slices in the fridge in an airtight container. This Holiday Banana Bread will stay fresh in the fridge for about one week.
Freezing Moist Gingerbread Banana Bread
You most definitely can freeze your holiday banana bread! I recommend that you keep it for no longer than 3 months in order to prevent freezer burn. To best retain the texture, I suggest you slice and then freeze the loaf. If you want to eat it, then you can just defrost the number of slices you want to have at a time rather than having to take out the entire loaf and potentially re-freezing the remaining loaf, which degrades the quality.
The best way to defrost your chocolate chip banana bread would be to allow the slices to thaw overnight in the fridge. However, if you’re really in a pinch to have banana bread and want to enjoy it warm, then you can directly microwave the slice from the freezer! Be sure to keep a close eye because microwaving the banana bread for too long can result in dry banana bread. That would defeat the purpose of having a moist banana bread!
Other Banana Holiday Treats!
Watch How to Make Gingerbread chocolate Chip Banana Bread here:
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!