gluten free finds: chocolate chip banana bread

Prepare yourselves. This is one of my holy grail recipes. Ridiculously easy. Super quick. And insanely delicious. It's life-changing people. Well, if you like banana bread.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

     Ingredients:

     · 1 box gluten free yellow cake mix

     · 1 cup ripe bananas (mashed)

     · 1/2 cup butter (softened)

     · 3 eggs

     · semi-sweet chocolate chips

Begin by heating your oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, mashed bananas, softened butter, and eggs.

To mash the bananas I simply peel them, place them in a bowl, grab a fork, and mash away. I always use two ripe bananas and that's typically plenty. This time I used two and a half because I had a little leftover from a protein pancake recipe (recipe coming soon).

Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes or until smooth. 

One great thing about gluten free baking is that it's nearly impossible to over mix your ingredients. You may have seen "mix until combined, don't over stir" on recipes before. That warning is given so you don't activate the gluten which can toughen your bread/cake/treat. And since you don't have that issue in gluten free recipes, you shouldn't have a problem with the batter becoming tough. That being said, mix your heart out!

And this is what makes it so good. Chocolate chips. I use about 1/2 to 3/4 of a bag in my loaf. It does end up being pretty chocolatey but that's how I like it. Part breakfast food, part dessert. Mmm. Of course, you could skip this step or substitute the chocolate chips for something else like nuts and still have delicious gluten free banana bread. But, don't skip this step. That would just be silly.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Grease an 8-inch or 9-inch loaf pan and pour in your batter.

The next part I learned through trial and error. You want to place foil over the pan the entire time your bread is baking to prevent overbrowning.

Bake a 9-inch loaf 55-60 minutes or if you're using an 8-inch loaf, bake for 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes. I use a 9-inch loaf pan, baking it for 55 minutes, and it comes out perfect every time.

Let cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan. Voila.

Oh my gosh it is so good. If you make this recipe, let me know what you think!! Or if you substitute something for the chocolate chips, tell me what you used!

Bon appetite.