One word to describe these past two weeks: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! But now we ignore this, because baking. 

Baking is magical. Delectable sweets and chocolatey goodness can temporarily cure many maladies of the mind (not actually, but let’s pretend for the sake of hope). And this week, we’re breaking from the mold of trying new recipes, because I’ve got my cousin Noah visiting and he’s brought three overripe bananas into the household. This, of course, is the perfect excuse to make banana bread.

This is my Great Grandmother’s recipe, and holy guacamole is it a good one. Start by softening ⅔ cups of butter and creaming it  into 1 cup of sugar. You then add 1 tsp of vanilla, 2 eggs, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp of baking soda into the batter. Then add your mushed bananas, mix, and add in 1 ¾ cups of flour. Finally, add 1 ¼ cups of chocolate chips, or however many appeals to your tastebuds. Go crazy if you like – it’s hard to have too much chocolate!

Please enjoy this cinematic video of the baking process: credits to Noah for his creative edge, and to Lauren for holding the bowl (those of you with siblings will know that giving credit is essential)

In the worst culmination of any cooking blog ever, I forgot to take a picture of the final product of our efforts. I blame the many random quiz games we played as the banana bread baked, which reminds me: bake at 350ºC for 1 hour or until a toothpick (or meat skewer) comes out clean. 

You are now all in possession of my family’s traditional dessert recipe. Use it well and frequently to be inspired by deliciousness incarnate, because even when life doesn’t make sense, the combination of chocolate and banana does. Go yee forth and nibble!