Best Banana Bread ... Ever (Or Ira talks to the voices in her head)

"What do I do with these three darkening bananas?", thought she.

"Make a banana cake," said the voice.

"Yes, but will the kids eat it?", pondered she.

"Find a recipe without walnuts, " instructed the voice.

"Ooh, I will do even better than that! I'll find one that will let me use up the yucky Hershey's chocolate that's too dark for the kiddies and too bland for the mommie!", exclaimed she.

"You're so un-American," said the voice.

"Shut up!" advised she.

Molly Wizenberg's Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger

Makes 1 loaf or 1 8-inch round cake

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup well-stirred whole-milk plain yogurt (not low or nonfat)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(I swear, it's a different watermelon!)

1. Set a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat to 350F. Grease a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan or an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray or butter.
2. Melt the butter on the stove or in a microwave and set aside to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the chocolate chips and crystallized ginger and whisk well to combine. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, melted butter, and vanilla and stir to mix well. Pour the banana mixture into the dry ingredients, and stir gently with a rubber spatula, scraping down the sides as needed, until just combined. Do not overmix. The batter with be thick and somewhat lumpy, just make sure all the flour has been incorporated. Scrape the batter into the loaf pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake into the loaf is a deep shade of golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 mins to an hour. If the loaf seems to be browning too quickly, tent with foil.
6. Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Then tip out onto the rack, and let it cool completely before slicing. The loaf freezes well wrapped in plastic wrap and again in foil to protect from freezer burn.

The batter:

The finished product:

Note: I didn't have any ginger, so I omitted it. The cake (bread?) was spectacular without it.

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