Banana Bread

Ingredients

• Butter (softened) — 110 g
• Ripe bananas
• Eggs (large) — 2 pcs
• Sugar — 120 g
• Vanilla or vanilla sugar
• Salt — 0.5 tsp
• Cinnamon (optional) — 0.5 tsp
• Wheat flour — 190 g
• Baking powder — 1 tsp
• Chocolate (chips or chopped) — 30 g

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and prepare the pan (1 large 10×25 cm or two small 6×18 cm) — grease or line with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, place the softened butter and add the sugar; mix briefly with a spoon to prevent the sugar from scattering, then beat with a mixer until the ingredients are combined and creamy.
3. Add the eggs one by one, beating after each, and at the same time add vanilla (or vanilla sugar). Once the butter-egg mixture is smooth, set it aside.
4. Mash the ripe bananas with a fork until pureed (do not use a blender); add the banana puree to the butter-egg mixture and mix until smooth.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and, if desired, cinnamon; sift the dry ingredients and gradually fold them into the wet mixture with a spatula (you can turn on the mixer at low speed just to combine).
6. Divide the dough in half if you want to make two types: add chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate) to one half and mix; the second part can be left without chocolate.
7. Pour the dough into the prepared pans. For the plain dough, place banana halves on top for decoration; for the chocolate version, you can add a few more chips on top.
8. Bake at 180°C: large bread — about 60 minutes, small loaves — about 40 minutes; check for doneness with a dry skewer (in the chocolate version, moist chocolate may remain on the skewer — this is normal).
9. Let the baked goods cool slightly in the pan, then remove and cool on a wire rack; if desired, serve warm with butter or ice cream.