chocolate chocolate-chip oatmealbanana bread

Yes, I realize this is my third post today. And yes, I realize this is in no way fashion related. But who would turn down a recipe? And after divulging one of my three secret dream career paths, I find it only fitting to write a little more about food now. But don't worry, I won't start writing about medicine or chores.

For Christmas this year, my sister got me four beautiful white ceramic measuring spoons, with handles fashioned to look like antique keys. My mom got me a hefty 9x5" Pyrex baking dish for breads or loaves of all sorts. Between these two things, I couldn't be happier. I am on my way to being a chef. (Not really, but at least I now own two cooking tools of high praise and beauty). She also included two recipes: zucchini bread, which I absolutely love, and meatloaf, and her recipe for meatloaf is pretty darn hard to beat.

Since I haven't gotten around to buying ground beef at the grocery store yet, and had all the ingredients to make a bread, I decided to try my hand at that tonight. I did not have zucchini, but I had two bananas that were reaching "that point" where they were good for baking. In addition, I had read somewhere that hypoglycemic people tend to have trouble with gluten - a lot of the times it isn't rare to have celiac disease, but also gluten can tend to cause blood sugar trouble. So while at Whole Foods the other day (it was like a dream - so many weird and interesting foods I wanted to try), I bought some brown rice flour. It looked interesting, seemed to have many health benefits, and was gluten-free.

The rice flour was different than I'd imagined - but in a good way. I, of course, thought it was going to be brown. It wasn't. It was a slight tan, and felt very soft. I didn't think to taste it before baking with it. The rice flour was the biggest alteration to the recipe I made; I substituted it for the white all-purpose flour (which I also love - nice and fluffy!) I also obviously used bananas instead of zucchini, because it was what I had on hand, and I added cocoa powder and chocolate chips to the dry ingredients mix for a chocolate (and chocolate-chip) bread.

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Chocolate chocolate-chip oatmeal banana bread
gluten-free

2 c brown rice flour
1/2 c packed brown sugar
6 T white sugar
1 1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1 t salt
1 c oats
1 c large chocolate chips
3 eggs
3/4 c vegetable oil
2 t vanilla
2 overly ripe bananas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan with butter, and dust lightly with flour and shake out the excess.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add oats and chocolate chips.

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with the oil and vanilla. Mash in the two bananas, then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. (And taste).

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake 60 minutes; a toothpick (or sewing pin, since it's all I had) should come out clean from the center. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before slicing.

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The resulting bread was very good! The brown rice flour lent a heartier texture and a nuttier flavor, and I like that in bread. It has a slightly grainy texture compared to white flour, but it's nice, not grainy in a bad sandy way - and with the oats, really gives it a nice bite. The inside was moist and the cocoa powder flavored the flour very nicely - no wimpy chocolate flavor! The ginger and cinnamon really give a nice fragrance to this recipe. However, the banana flavor is not lost at all; rather, it remains rather prevalent. And, with the rice flour, you're getting some good vitamins and minerals and fiber!

Nutrition facts (because I know somebody's going to care):
Serves 18
Serving size: 1 slice (cut the loaf into nine slices, and divide each slice down the middle - seems stingy, but trust me, the pieces are still big!)

Calories: 272
Fat: 16 g
Sodium: 249 mg
Carbohydrates: 40 g
Fiber: 3.5 g
Sugars: 19 g
Protein: 4.5 g

Iron: 6.5%
Vitamin A: 1.2%
Vitamin C: 2.5%
Calcium: 5.5%

I love to cook, so I think I will try to write up recipes more often.