Which, when you think about it, is a crazy awesome name for a dude. In addition having a kick-ass given name, my Dad also has a kick-ass recipe for banana bread called Kimball’s $500 Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. The $500 part comes from the fact that my Dad got the recipe on his high school graduation trip to Hawaii in 1967 and my grandparents liked to tease him that he was suckered into paying $500 (the cost of the trip) for a banana bread recipe. It’s been a staple feel good, taste good recipe in my family ever since and I recently made it for my office on the 1 year anniversary of my official start date (the Tuesday after Memorial Day). Judging from the multiple requests for a $500 encore, I’m pretty sure they thought it was kick-ass too. Here’s the recipe in all its glory in case you’re like me and have an undying love for bananas, chocolate, and simple carbohydrates:
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Kimball’s $500 Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
2 1/3 cups mashed over-ripe bananas (from roughly 5-6 med/large bananas)
½ cup chocolate chips (optional)
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
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1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9×5” loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Sift three times.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in beaten eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir wet mixture into flour mixture and then stir everything together just to moisten (don’t let it bubble). To jazz it up, you can now fold in ½ cup chocolate chips and/or ½ cup chopped walnuts to the mixture if you so desire. Pour the batter into prepared loaf pan (but no more than half full because the mixture rises as it bakes).
4. Bake for 60-65 min (until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean). Let the bread cool in the loaf pan for 10 min and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Slice, Serve, and Enjoy!
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my Dad said you can pay him royalties later . . .
