Pantry Raid Banana Bread

Ultra moist, rich with creamy bananas, studded with chocolate, and laced with vanilla. PLUS, you can most likely make this quick bread without leaving your home! There are substitutes for EVERY single ingredient in the entire recipe. Raid that pantry and whip up warm chocolate-chip banana bread (with or without a slather of butter). It's one of the most soothing things on earth.

I kid you not. There are substitutes for every ingredient in this bread. I know this from experience. My boys (and their friends) LOVE my banana bread, but I don't always have everything I need. Little do they know, I make changes almost every time. An egg swap here, a flour swap there, changes to the dairy component... nobody knows the difference.

I always make changes based on what I have handy. Sometimes I have yogurt AND milk. Sometimes I have one OR the other. Sometimes I have to scrape up the last bit of flour and sub whatever "ground thing" I have on hand. And it works. You can't replace 100% of the all-purpose flour, but as long as you have at least HALF of the flour called for in a recipe, you can fill in the gaps with whatever you have. I've used oat flour (below), nut flour (including almond), flaxseed meal, gluten-free baking mixes, coconut flour, wheat flour, buckwheat flour, and every iteration in between. The bottom line? If you're NOT gluten-free, use a wheat-based flour for at least half of the dry ingredients (meaning 1 cup). Gluten-free baking mixes are the next best option. Last resort? Use up your flour and get to the 2 cups with whatever you have. The bread will still be awesome, just maybe more dense! 

In this batch, I LOVE how the oat flour adds a wholesome, nutty quality you simply can't rival with regular white flour.

Once you get past the flour, you'll see that I offer suggestions for the eggs, dairy, sugar, and even leavening ingredients. Have fun, play around, and let me know what concoction you try!

Pantry Raid Banana Bread 

Cooking spray, or vegetable oil or butter for greasing the pan
1 cup all-purpose flour, or gluten-free baking mix
1 cup oat flour, or whole wheat flour or more all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar, or brown sugar or coconut sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, or baking soda or cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 mashed over-ripe bananas, or 2 mashed bananas and 1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup yogurt, or sour cream, or milk, or cream, or half and half
1 large egg, or 1 flax egg (for 1 flax egg, combine 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal and 2 1/2 tablespoons of water; let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before using)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, or almond extract, or leave it out
1/2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, milk or white chocolate), or peanut butter chips, or butterscotch chips, plus more for sprinkling over top, or leave chips out if desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8- or 9-inch loaf pan cooking spray, oil or butter.
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix well and set aside.
In a mixing bowl or food processor, combine the bananas, yogurt, egg, and vanilla. Mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix until just blended. Fold in the chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle extra chips over top.
Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a wooden pick comes out clean or with little moist bits clinging to it.
Cool the bread, in the pan, on a wire rack for a least 10 minutes before slicing.
Makes 1 loaf