My husband is not one to get excited about food. I know. I don’t know what I was thinking when I married him. I mean, IT’S FOOD. What’s not to get excited about, right?
There are three foods that I have heard him talk about with any sort of excitement. Number one is the steak we had on our wedding night. It was a filet mignon and it had a big blob of butter on top. He loved that steak. He still dreams about it. Number two is sausage egg rolls. He loves those things. They are a pain in the butt to make though, so he doesn’t get them often. Number three is a cheeseball. He likes cheeseballs. He’s a simple man.
The other day I made this scrumptious banana coffee cake with chocolate chip streusel and do you know what my husband said about it? HE TOLD ME I SHOULD SELL THE STUFF. Sell it. For money. Because it’s just that good. This is quite possibly the nicest thing my husband has ever said about my food before.
I’m certainly not going to start selling the stuff though, so why don’t you make your own and tell me what you think?
The first thing we need to do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
And then butter an 8×8 baking dish. And don’t worry. I won’t start carrying on about my love of butter.
For the streusel topping, we’re going to get a small bowl and dump in 1 cup of chocolate chips, 2/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, and 1 tablespoon of cinnamon.
Stir it all up and then spend a couple seconds picking out chunks of brown sugar and eating them. I like chunks of brown sugar.
Set your streusel topping aside before you eat all the brown sugar.
At this point the recipe says you should sift together 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. But, me? I don’t DO sifting. I dump everything in the bowl and then I stir it. That’s good enough, right?
Take a fork and mash your bananas. I only had two bananas. The recipe called for three. I’m sure this would be tastier with three bananas but I didn’t let it ruin my day.
Next, beat together 1 stick of softened butter, 3/4 cup of sugar and 1 large egg until the mixture is nice and creamy. Take a lick. Go ahead. I dare you.
Add in your mashed bananas and either 3 tablespoons of buttermilk OR 3 tablespoons of plain yogurt. (I ended up using 5 tablespoons yogurt to make up for the missing banana.)
Slowly add in your flour mixture and blend well.
Spread half of this mixture into your 8×8 baking dish and sprinkle half of the streusel topping on top. Lather, rinse, and repeat with the remaining batter and streusel. Er, maybe just repeat.
(I forgot to take a picture of the layering process. Please forgive me.)
If you have a short person nearby, let her poke at the topping and listen attentively while she whines about her tummy grumbling. Tell her that if she doesn’t quit whining you’ll toss her in the oven along with the coffee cake.
Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let this cool for just as long as you can stand it.
Don’t be like me and get impatient. Don’t take a bite right out of the whole cake. It’s not polite. It’s rude. You’ll regret it.
Oh, who am I kidding? You won’t regret it.
Oh, yum.
Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Streusel Topping
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large)
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk or plain yogurt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and an 8×8 inch baking dish.
Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside.
Sift together (or just STIR TOGETHER) all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter, and egg in a large bowl until fluffy. Mix in mashed bananas and buttermilk or yogurt. Add flour mixture and blend well.
Spread half of batter in prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half of streusel. Repeat with remaining batter and streusel. Bake coffee cake until toothipick inserted in center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool for about 10 minutes and serve.
| Tags: baking, bread, breakfast, chocolate, fruit 23 comments »
January 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I LOVE chunks of brown sugar. Especially when they are sitting in melted butter. Can’t wait to try out this recipe! If my kids eat it I can count it as a fruit, right?
January 12th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I wish this were in my house right now! I heart bananas and chocolate. Thank you for this recipe.
January 12th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
whoa. this just blew my mind. i am making this TONIGHT.
January 12th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I know someone who would LOVE this. He is also a man and I’m pretty sure this will make him very, very happy!
It looks incredible!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:31 am
I make this for Christmas morning every year. This year it was a blog post too!
http://mignardise.blogspot.com/2008/11/going-bananas.html
January 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Great, I just went to the grocery today, now I have to go back this weekend for walnuts
I think I gained weight just reading the recipe.
January 18th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Oh, yummy!
January 19th, 2009 at 7:48 am
wow! this looks amazing! i belive i’ll be attempting this recipe over the weekend, i love your cute little notes throughout
January 20th, 2009 at 1:30 am
OMG this looks awesome! Just when I thought I’d start eating healthy
THanks for your comment on my blog – I’m so happy to discover yours in the process! 
January 20th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Yummm. The streusel topping looks delicious!
March 31st, 2009 at 8:00 am
Yum. I’m not a big banana fan, but this is going in my file.
May 29th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I just wanted to say what a lovely time I had reading your recipe. You are having so much fun with it and your descriptives are so funny and colorful it almost makes me feel like we’re friends and I’m hanging out in your kitchen on a Sunday morning.
You’re absolutely refreshing. Maybe your hubby is right. With your personality you could probably sell anything!
Bravo.
July 10th, 2009 at 6:31 am
oh i love to eat bananas raw. i also love foods and recipes with banana in it. they taste very very good
August 30th, 2009 at 8:04 am
LOVED the entertaining step-by-step – you’re a woman after my own heart!! The cake is in the oven – can’t wait!! ;-o
August 31st, 2009 at 8:46 pm
I came across your receipe this afternoon and I love the way you described everything…it’s as if we were making this together like kindred kitchen friends! Very entertaining! I just pulled the cake out of the oven an hour ago and cut two hearty pieces for my landlords across the street(recently broke my back, I live alone,they have been good to me) to go along with this months rent. They now expect something insanely delicious EVERY month!! Your hubby is right, so good you could sell it and have addicts hounding you forever! Thanks so much!
October 20th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
This is such an AWESOME recipe! I made it and first of all it makes your house smell wonderful. Thank you so much my family LOVED it! I will be keeping this one in my favorites.
December 3rd, 2009 at 9:23 pm
just wondering – where is the coffee?
December 6th, 2009 at 1:14 am
I was wondering the same thing.. where does the coffee come in?… I think maybe on the side?
December 6th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Rach and Laurie,
Yep, on the side!
I had to google “is there supposed to be coffee in coffee cake?” Turns out, no! You can still consider it coffee cake if you serve it with coffee.
At least, that’s what wikipedia tells me.
Karly
December 7th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Sounds delish! (Love it when recipes turn out so well!!) I linked to this on my weekly roundup, post is under my name. Thanks!
December 7th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Thanks for the recipe! I reduced the sugar, and we still loved it!!
December 10th, 2009 at 2:26 am
I love your banana recipies! I have so many bananas in my freezer just waiting to be used. This looks delish, I will have to make it soon!
December 13th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
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