Recipe: Eggless Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

So I wanted to make dessert today and needed to figure out what I could make with what I had on hand. I had three bananas* in the freezer (which kept falling out every other time I opened it), so I decided to make banana bread. But everything is better with chocolate, especially bananas (my roommate and I used to make banana-chocolate chip pancakes in college all the time, but I haven't had them in such a long time because of Jeffrey's strange and unfortunate aversion to bananas -- except in banana bread, because he doesn't think it tastes like bananas). Anyway, I found a recipe for chocolate chip banana bread and started making it before I realized I didn't have any eggs. So I used unsweetened applesauce as a substitute. I also used whole wheat flour for a third of the flour called for. Anyway, it came out so moist and delicious! In fact, by the end of the day there were only two slices left (and we would have probably eaten all of it if we hadn't eaten so very much for dinner).

*Note: I let the bananas thaw a bit, peeled them, chopped them up, then let them continue thawing. Some of the liquid separates when you have frozen the bananas, and I know a lot of people drain it, but I just mash it all up with the liquid because I figure it came from the banana and getting rid of it might affect the taste and texture.

Here is the recipe I based it on.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 C butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1/4 C unsweetened applesauce

1 T mayonnaise (I actually used the Kraft mayo with olive oil, because that's what we had on hand)

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 C all purpose flour

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/4 t salt

1/2 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9"x5" loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the applesauce, mayonnaise, and bananas. In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Blend the flour mixture into the banana mixture; stir just enough to evenly combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Bake at 350F until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 75 minutes. Cool loaf in the pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.