I am one of those people that loves cookbooks and any other sort of printed literature that has recipes. I just LOVE to stumble across new recipes. I think the best types of recipes come from the places we least expect them to – such as the milk calendar. I have loved the Milk Calendar since I was in the 8th grade. Every year, we would get the calendar in the Saturday paper in early December and I would go through it in great detail, eagerly looking for new recipes to make. Who knew it was just the beginning of a tiny obsession in development?
This recipe, as you may have already guessed, came from the Milk Calendar for the year 2000, which is hard to believe was 12 years ago now. Although I love the milk calendar a lot, my mother-in-law is one of the other people who I know who loves it just as much. I had overlooked this recipe due to a couple of ingredients that didn’t quite seem like they belonged – like vinegar and corn syrup. But after tasting the delicious chocolate-banana muffins which seemed to be a staple in her house, I was sold on this recipe which was moist and delicious without any added butter!
The milk calendar calls these “Chocolate Banana Cupcakes”. I’m sorry but it would be a crime to call these “cupcakes”. They are delicious and moist, as a banana bread should be, but these are no cupcakes and if you think they are, you need to taste a truly great cupcake! I had never baked this recipe as a loaf before, always sticking to muffins before, but this was so great as a loaf – the tops/sides/bottom of the bread was crunchy, in a good way, while the insides were soft and moist.
Ingredients
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
- 1 cup milk
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup corn syrup
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1 tbsp icing sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 °F (200 °C). Lightly spray 12 muffin pan or a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a blender, mix together bananas, milk, brown sugar, corn syrup, oil, vanilla and vinegar and purée until everything is mixed, about 40 seconds.
- In another bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; sprinkle over banana mixture and stir just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips gently and then spoon mixture into prepared pan.
- Bake for 15 to 20 min or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack. Sift icing sugar over top, if desired.