Banana bread is some serious comfort food. Something about nutmeg, cinnamon, and bananas, all in a lightly sweetened loaf with the occasional texture change thanks to the delectable walnut is magically calming. You can eat it plain, warm and fresh from the oven, or  slather it with peanut butter or nutella (for the extra protein, of course) served next to a cold glass of milk. Yum!

Our growing little one has been ringing womb service – that’s me, the carrier/host/baby concierge – for bananas and banana bread lately, and we’ve seen plenty go through the oven in the last week or so, not to mention the bananas that have slipped into my bag at lunch, my cereal at breakfast, and straight into my belly as an evening snack.

While I love my stand-by banana bread recipe, I couldn’t help myself from trying this twist on it when I saw it: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread. The chocolate sweetens the bread just enough and reminds me of the subtlety of the walnuts, the raspberries are delightful (and on sale at our grocery store), and the oatmeal makes it hearty without weighing the loaf down.

This is a quick recipe that works up in a flash and stinks up your whole house with deliciousness. I recommend making it as soon as possible.

{Recipe} Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and grease your loaf pan(s).

Oat flour is simple to make: add oatmeal to blender, and whiz until it resembles flour. It took about 2 and ½ cups of oatmeal for me to make the resulting necessary 2 cups of oat flour for this recipe.

Measure out 2 cups of oat flour, and combine it in a bowl with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set this aside – we will come back to it.

Combine the bananas, brown sugar, vanilla, and egg in another bowl until creamy.

Pro-tip here: For easy mashed bananas, freeze your browning bananas and thaw them when you’re ready. Barring that, nuke the bananas for a minute or so. Microwaves turn bananas into a perfect mush.

Slowly add the oat flour mixture to your creamy mixture until just combined. Fold in the smashed raspberries and dark chocolate chips.

Pour your batter into your prepared, greased loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool for 10-15 minutes, then remove from loaf pans to finish cooling, if you can resist stuffing them in your face immediately upon removing them from the oven. Cut and serve.

Download a PDF of this recipe here (full page):
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Banana Bread

This recipe makes 4 mini loaf pans or one 9×5 large loaf pan. I’m sure you could make muffins or mini muffins out of this as well, just be sure to adjust your baking times down to account for their smaller size.

It may just be the pregnancy talking, but these are fantastic for breakfast, a mid-morning snack, to give as a gift, or to make ahead and freeze for later. They’re also gloriously gluten-free (watch the oatmeal here – make sure to get actual gluten-free oats if you’re working with someone who is gluten intolerant), and easily convert to vegan, just substitute apple sauce for the egg.

Let me know if you make this and what you think of it. The bread was a hit with the husbeast, my parents, and the little growing babe. If I had had any left over to share with someone else, I don’t doubt they would have loved it, too!