Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze

I’m a magazine junkie. Let me be more specific…I’m a cooking magazine junkie. I hoard them. My husband has been known to call me “piles” because I used to have 6-7 piles of magazines placed strategically (hidden) around the house. I couldn’t go to the store without picking up a new magazine and I couldn’t ever throw them away. Ever. I thought I might want to reference them later. I don’t….ever. Well, I used to but with the internet I don’t need to sift through piles and pages when I can just search for it online.

I also cut back on the purchasing of paper magazines since I can download them on the iPad. This has eliminated most of the piles and when we moved to our new home I purged about two tons of magazines. It was like a 12 step program for hoarding. I have to thank Apple…because if it hadn’t been for the invention of the iPad and the ability to house all my favorite publications on it I would still have fire hazards all over the place.

I find it somewhat therapeutic to sit down at night and leaf (scroll?) through a cooking magazine while enjoying a bottle   glass of wine. I do miss folding down the corner of the pages of recipes I would like to try, I’m still adjusting but with time the paper version will be a distant memory.

The October issue of Cooking Light features this banana bread on it’s cover. The photo is stunning and I had to make it immediately. (Plus, I had some bananas that were ready to retire.) It’s a basic banana bread drenched in a chocolate glaze that dates back to a 1996 issue. I did plan to make it as instructed but decided at the last minute to make a few changes along the way. My version of the chocolate glaze has a few more calories so if you’re looking to make it lighter you can substitute the cream in my recipe for 2 tablespoons of half and half. The bread itself I changed by subbing the sour cream for greek yogurt (Chobani, of course) and I added chopped pecans….just because I can.

Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze

Serves 16

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 2/3 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

1/4 cup 2% milk

1/4 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

2 large eggs

2 cups all purpose flour (I used King Arthur)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Cooking spray

3 tablespoons heavy cream

2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar and butter beating at medium speed until fluffy. On low-speed, add the banana, milk, greek yogurt and eggs mixing until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Keeping the mixer on low-speed and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Beat just until blended. Add the pecans and stir briefly.

Pour the batter into a 9×5 inch metal loaf pan coated with cooking spray and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Place the heavy cream and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave at high for 1 minute or until chocolate melts, stirring every 20 seconds. Cool slightly and spoon over bread.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light