Chunky Monkey Bread

Let's face it: I'm bananas about chocolate + peanut butter.

Bananas?

Why didn't I think of this before? Chocolate + peanut butter + bananas.

My first experience with this terrific trio was Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream (Banana ice cream with fudge and walnuts). Although I haven't had it for years, I have fond memories of eating it out of the carton at high school slumber parties (it often made an appearance after 11:00pm....when the first movie screening of "Happy Gilmore" or "American Pie" was over for the evening).

Convert Ben & Jerry's brilliant flavor creations into loaf form, and you've got Chunky Monkey Bread.

I was inspired to make this bread after Cooking Light did a feature spread on banana bread last month. They boasted a Peanut Butter Banana Bread, as well as a Chocolate Banana Bread, but why not combine the two?

One tidbit of advice I recommend for this recipe is coarsely chopping the chocolate chips--it distributes more chocolate throughout the batter, and in what universe is that not a good thing?

My best serving suggestion is to top your slice of Chunky Monkey bread with some natural peanut butter and sliced bananas. I apologize for forgetting to snap a picture of my loaded-up slice before I ate it (the rest of this loaf is being shipped off to Wisconsin and Virginia for my two pregnant friends. When you're eating for two, you definitely can't get enough chocolate + peanut butter + banana in your life).

Enough talk though. Let's get our Chunky Monkey on.

Chunky Monkey Bread

(a recipe adapted from Cooking Light)

Just when you thought it didn't get any better than chocolate + peanut butter...we went and added bananas to the mix. I recommend topping your slice of bread with natural peanut butter and banana slices. But Nutella would work, too :)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe banana
• 1/3 cup fat free vanilla yogurt
• 1/3 cup all-natural chunky peanut butter
• 3 TBSP canola oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chopped, toasted pecans
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips, coarsely chopped
• Optional: natural peanut butter and sliced bananas to serve (Nutella would be tasty, too)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

2) Combine banana, yogurt, peanut butter, oil, vanilla, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add white and brown sugar and beat until combined.

3) Combine flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in pecans and chopped chocolate with a spoon. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approximately 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4) Allow bread to cool. To serve, smooth some peanut butter on your slice and top with sliced banana.