Holiday Baking!

I'm listening to Christmas music while I write this! Cheating I know. For many, many years I held to the rule that Christmas music was to start after Thanksgiving. I remember how much I looked forward to getting the Thanksgiving dishes done so I could go curl up in bed with the light off and turn on the Christmas station! There really was something magical about it!

Sometimes we've got to adjust with life though. I don't know if I'll be singing Silent Night anytime soon thanks to Sonya Joy, so my new tradition is to start listening to Christmas music when the holiday baking begins. (Won't the neighbors be surprised next year when they get a plate of Christmas cookies at Easter?) 

The first treat of my holiday season is Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out because I found a recipe online, substituted regular flower with whole wheat (Gotta at least pretend to be healthy!), and doubled the recipe.

Here is the original recipe.

INGREDIENTS

     1/4 cup vegetable oil

     1 1/2 cups flour

     1 cup sugar

     1 tsp baking soda

     1/2 tsp salt

     2 eggs, lightly beaten

     3 bananas (Ripe and mashed)

     1 cup chocolate chips

PREPARATION

Pre-heat the oven to 350°F .

Grease and flour a 8 1/2-inch x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan (or use baking spray, such as Baker's Joy brand).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix in the oil, bananas and eggs. Stir in the chocolate chips (do not overmix!) and pour into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60-80 minutes. Cool the loaf in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out and cool completely, right side up.

http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2760

Healthy - almost
Yummy - very :)

By the time I had finished feeding the baby, one of the loaves was almost gone! Time to give them away so we don't eat them all! This is definitely a repeat recipe for me!

Enjoy your holidays! Remember the One we are celebrating!