Banana Chocolate Marble Bread

I love banana bread, I love marble cake, and I love altering recipes to make them a little bit healthier- and I got all three with this recipe!  I stated with the basic banana bread recipe from my Better Homes cookbook, then added more bananas, spices, and a chocolate swirl, and reduced the amount of sugar and white flour.

Dry Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ cup rolled oats

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ baking soda

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ nutmeg

Wet Ingredients:

2 extra large eggs, beaten

6 medium bananas, defrosted and mashed*

½ cup sugar

½ cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Swirl:

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tablespoon sugar

*I love doing the bananas this way.  When your bananas get brown spots, toss them in the freezer.  Then when you are ready to make your bread, simply pop them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, until soft but not hot.  Take kitchen scissors and snip one end of the banana, then lightly squeeze from the other end.  The banana will slide out easily and be super easy to mash.

Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the wet ingredients in a medium bowl.  Pour the banana mixture into the large bowl with the flour mixture, and stir until combined.  Pour about 1/3 of the batter back into the medium bowl; stir in cocoa powder and sugar.

Spray a 9X5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.  Spoon batter into the pan, alternating between the plain and chocolate mixtures.  When all the batter is in the pan, take a table knife and swirl by doing two “figure eights” through the loaf.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 60 minutes.  If the top begins to get too dark, cover with some foil.  Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.  

I'll be eating this for breakfast all week : )