Every year since I was in the 3rd grade, May 15th has been my own personal Chocolate Day. I basically decided as a nine-year-old that I needed one day a year where I only ate chocolatey treats. Having consistently celebrated this day successfully for the past 13 years in a row, I gotta say I'm pretty proud of this little tradition of mine. Some people laugh and tell me how obviously unhealthy it is. But hey, it's not like I eat this way every single day! It's only once a year, and it's this day each year that lets me feel like a little kid again.
But this year, I know my beloved Chocolate Day will need to be different. This is the first year that eating chocolate all day for an entire day doesn't just affect me and my health, it also affects my baby. And honestly, I don't think my body will be able to handle it this year! Being pregnant has definitely made me more sensitive to sweets and I usually end up feeling sick if I eat one too many of them. So this year, I won't be having an all day chocolate only extravaganza. But that doesn't mean I won't be celebrating it at all. I'll just be toning it down a notch.
I'll still be watching Chocolat. And I'll still be making a chocolatey treat or two. But I've been trying to find recipes that include just a dash of chocolate, rather than full out chocolate monstrosities. So I stumbled upon this simple chocolate chip banana bread recipe over on Historian in the Kitchen and it seemed absolutely perfect for my laid back Chocolate Day. What was even better? I already had all the ingredients at home! And it literally took only 10 minutes to make.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray a 9x9 inch pan.
Mix all the wet ingredients together (bananas, butter, egg, vanilla) and separately mix all the dry ingredients together (sugar, baking soda, salt, flour). Then stir them all together in a medium bowl. Stir in 3/4 cup of chocolate chips and pour the mixture into the pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top to make it look pretty :)
Bake for about an hour (start checking after about 45 minutes to be safe). Cool, cut, and serve!
This turned out super yummy. You could definitely omit the chocolate chips if you want, but I felt like they were the perfect little addition for my simpler Chocolate Day this year. And while it makes me a little sad that I have to be a bit more grown up this year, I can't wait until the day when I get to celebrate Chocolate Day with my little girl and to see her get so excited by this silly, special day of mine. This is for sure a tradition that won't be going away any time soon.
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