Recipe - Chocolate Chip Cookie Butter Banana Bread

The love for cookie butter that has grown with everyone over the last few years is astonishing. Who knew that the speculoos cookie when mashed up into a fatty spread would incur so much fandom? A friend of mine decided to gift me with a jar of the stuff (along with other dessert-oriented items), and I knew that my sweet-tooth-lacking self would have a hard time finishing off an entire container. So, after much looking around online, the idea of baking it into a banana bread loaf seemed mighty appealing. This would impart the scents of fall and winter onto a normally robust-smelling loaf while contributing to the batter inside. In fact, my whole recipe is a nice balance of chocolate, cookie butter, and banana while helping you get rid of leftover items in your pantry and refrigerator. What a perfect recipe! Give it a try and become your friends' favorite person in the whole world.


Step 1: Ingredients (yields 1 loaf)

• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 ripe large bananas
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup cookie butter
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour + extra for chocolate chips
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used Callebaut)

Step 2: Prepping ingredients
The fun thing about this recipe is how quick and easy it is to make. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a bread loaf pan. In a food processor, mix vinegar with whole milk and let sit for 5 minutes; this is to make sour milk. Then add in baking soda, bananas, and eggs. Blend together until smooth. In a separate bowl, mix together yogurt, oil, sugar, and cookie butter.

Step 3: Mixing wet and dry ingredients
Sift together salt and flour. Then add to cookie butter batter slowly, mixing just enough to incorporate. Next, mix together banana batter. Be careful not to overmix as it will make the banana bread tough. In a separate bowl, dust chocolate chips with enough flour to keep the chips separate. Fold into master batter.

Step 4: Finishing
Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes, checking doneness by inserting a toothpick through the middle. When it is done, the toothpick should come out dry. Slide loaf out of pan and let cool on a rack with plenty of ventilation around the bread. Slice when cool and enjoy!


Photography by Duc Duong.