Triple Chocolate Banana Bread

If, like me, you really enjoy traditional banana bread, is there anything that could make it any better? How about chocolate? How about Triple Chocolate Banana Bread? Sounds delicious, right? It is!

Banana bread is a type of sweet dessert bread that is made with fully ripe, mashed bananas. It is often a moist, sweet, cake-like bread (however there are some banana bread recipes that are traditional-style yeast breads). Banana bread became a pretty standard recipe in American cookbooks with the popularization of both baking soda and baking powder in the 1930's. It first appeared in a 1933 Pillsbury publication and later gained further acceptance with the release of Chiquita Banana's recipe book in 1950. Bananas didn't appear in the United States until the 1870's and it took a while for them to appear as ingredients in any desserts. Many food historians believe banana bread was a by-product of the Great Depression as resourceful housewives looked for new ways to utilize bananas instead of throwing them out. There are many variations on banana bread, including banana raisin bread, banana nut bread (chopped nuts, usually walnuts, are added) and chocolate chip banana bread (one of my favorites... until now!).

Gone are the days of simply adding chocolate chips to banana bread to give it a delicious chocolate flavor. While chocolate chips are still added in this delicious banana bread recipe, now it's all about the triple chocolate, and it starts with swapping out some of the flour for cocoa powder, and also adding some espresso powder to intensify the chocolate flavor. You likely won't taste a coffee flavor from the espresso, but you will notice a more rich, depth of flavor from your chocolate. The third chocolate item you're going to add is chocolate ganache (which, the recipe lists as �optional� but I say is a must!).

Ganache is a glaze, icing, sauce or filling for pastries made from chocolate and cream (this recipe calls for dark chocolate and heavy cream). It is normally made by heating cream, then pouring it over chocolate. The mixture is stirred or blended until smooth (with liqueurs or extracts added if desired � but you won't need to add anything extra to this!). Butter is traditionally added to give the ganache a shiny appearance and smoother texture. Depending on the type of chocolate used, the purpose of the ganache and the temperature at which it will be served, the ratio of chocolate to cream is varied in order to obtain the desired consistency (you don't need to worry � all of the �work� has been done for you if you just follow the simple steps in the recipe!).

The addition of the cocoa powder and dark chocolate make this triple chocolate banana bread recipe less sweet than you're probably thinking. However if you have a real 'sweet tooth' (like I do) you can reduce the amount of cocoa powder you use and add more flour. Alternatively, you could use a milk chocolate for your ganache instead of dark. This is a fun recipe to play around with, but it's also perfect just the way it is.