Especially when you never got a chance to jot down your boyfriend's Mom's banana bread recipe. It was a staple in their household. I remember the first time his 7 year-old-sister stepped me through the process, stressing the most important part - DO NOT OVER-MIX THE BATTER.

I know that everyone has their favorite banana bread - and I will not fault you for it. This one holds a special place in my heart and kitchen for a few reasons:

• It only requires one bowl, and no mixer.
• The method of adding melted butter at the end makes this bread SUPER moist and also perfectly crisp and flavorful on the outside. It's almost as if you've drenched the whole loaf in browned butter. 

Because I never copied the original recipe I simply had to make it from memory over the years - as a result, it has morphed from the original version, in two key ways:

• I like to use equal parts all purpose flour and cornmeal, which makes it both more sweet (in a corn-y way) and less sweet (by adding different, corn-y flavor profile).
   
• I always add dark chocolate, a non-negotiable request from my current significant other, who has VERY strong opinions about why his mother's banana bread was the best, and you guessed it: chocolate chips. I am glad he advocated so strongly for it, because now I could not imagine my loaves without.

A note on chocolate: I use - almost exclusively - Valrhona Manjari Feves. I don't want to divulge how many 3kg bags of these I use every year. Between baked goods, homemade hot chocolate, and just dipping them in peanut butter for an essential afternoon snack, I can't get enough of them. They have a near perfect bright red fruit acidity that is perfect for nearly every application. Needless to say, dark chocolate is one of my major food groups. 
 

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 stick (8 Tbls / 4 oz / 1/4 lb) butter, melted
• 3-4 uber ripe bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 oz dark chocolate

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
    
2. Smash up to bananas in a big bowl with a fork.
    
3. Add sugar and mix in.
    
4. Add eggs and mix in.
    
5. Add flour, baking soda, and salt (kind of mix them in on the top and then fold them into the rest of the batter). Here's the most important part: DO NOT OVER-MIX. Do it as little as possible (i.e. ensure there are no huge chunks of flour, but don't feel like you have to get every last speck. the lack of overwork keeps it nice and moist).
    
6. Then add the butter and mix in (again, get the majority, but don’t feel like all of the butter has to be absorbed. If some pools on the surface / edges it will make the exterior crisp and delicious). Gently mix in dark chocolate. 
    
7. Pour into pan size of your choosing (muffins, loaf pan, cake pan . . . whatever you have). Timing will depend on the
   size of the pan, but could run from 20 minutes for muffins to about an hour for loaf pan. I always remove it a little bit sooner than you would think because I like it moist. It shouldn't be wiggly, but doesn't have to be firm.
    
8. Serve warm. Or the next day, toasted, with cream cheese. You can also cut the loaf and freeze individual pieces and toast them up in the oven. This will help you not eat the entire loaf in one sitting. 

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