Banana Bread with Espresso and Dark Chocolate Chips

I’m not a huge coffee drinker. I seemed to be one of the few people that didn’t survive on it during exam time at University and I don’t crave it first thing in the morning like some people do. I enjoy a cup every now and then but I think the reason I don’t drink it more often is the aftereffect. I hate coffee-breath. I feel like I need to brush my teeth immediately after I finish a coffee to get the lingering taste out of my mouth. If coffee didn’t leave me with coffee breath I could definitely see myself being an addict. Since I drink it so infrequently though, the caffeine really hits me. A single cup of coffee is enough to make me unusually chatty and a little bit shaky. I can’t drink it in the evening either or else I’ll be up all night. But I like the smell of coffee and I especially like it in ice cream and baked goods.

Today, while looking for a banana bread recipe I stumbled across one I’ve made before, courtesy of Elise of Simply Recipes. I started reading the comments section and saw one from David Lebovitz that suggested adding a shot of espresso to the batter. I think I would follow along with pretty much anything David Lebovitz suggested based on how much I love The Perfect Scoop. So off I went to the kitchen to give the espresso banana bread a try. I like chocolate chips in my banana bread so I added some dark ones of those too.

I’ve noticed while typing this post that Demetri Martin was right when he said “I feel stupid when I write the word banana. Its like, how many na’s are on this thing? ‘Cause I’m like ‘Ba-na… keep going. Bana-na-na… Damn!” Thank God for youtube because by the time I baked up my banana bread and waited for it to cool it was too late in the day for me to be eating it with coffee but I did anyways so now I won’t be sleeping for quite a while. At least I’ve got Demetri to keep me company. I’m going to start by watching The Jokes with Guitar for the 74^th time…

Banana Bread (Adapted from Simply Recipes)

3 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons espresso powder
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda, espresso powder and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour and chocolate chips and mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.