Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

Here's another one from Enlightened Chocolate. I sure am a happy girl when I have 2 to 3 bananas go brown because that means it will be banana bread for breakfast the next day or two. (And when Safeway has bags of brown bananas for sale, I load up.) I have a favorite standby sour cream banana bread recipe, and we usually add mini chocolate chips to it. But a marbled chocolate banana bread is a little more elegant, even decadent. As you can see from the picture, this one is moist and dense - it really tastes and feels like a real indulgence. And don't we all need that?

Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

3 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (about 3)

1/2 cup egg substitute

1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl whisk the flours, baking soda, salt and nutmeg until blended.

2. Place the chocolate in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave on HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly.

3. Place the sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute.) Add banana and egg substitute, and yogurt, beating until blended. Add the flour mixture with a wooden spoon, stirring just until blended.

4. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, sturring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife.

5. Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Makes 1 loaf, 16 slices.

And because this is an "enlightened" version of banana bread, here's the nutritional info:

Per 1 slice - Calories 185; Fat 5.4g; Protein 3.4g; Cholesterol 8.2mg; Carbohydrate 32g

Recipe from Enlightened Chocolate by Camilla Saulsbury