I’ve heard there are kitchens in the world that fruit flies have never seen the inside of and mine is definitely not one of them. I doubt it ever will be because apparently I have a love affair with buying bananas and never ever eating them fast enough. Without fail when I know I’m gonna buy bananas I tell myself I’m gonna go in the store and succeed at taking two less than I normally would. Then without fail I walk up to the bananas and immediately feel so guilty about the idea of separating them from their friends that I buy the entire bunch.

I bring them home and manage to eat one or two, then inevitably forget about the rest until the fruit flies show up and start buzzing around my face while I drink wine and watch Netflix which leads me into what I call the tipsy fly massacre. I have similar struggles with avocados. I buy them hard as rocks, wait forever for them to ripen and the one day I give up on my dreams of avocado toast and fail to check in on them they turn brown. This is the cycle in my kitchen. I KNOW I could break it but I’m just not willing to try hard enough cause if I did I wouldn’t have an excuse to make this bread, and there’s nothing overripe bananas and avocados love more than being transformed into warm chocolatey decadent bread.

I first made this recipe when I was on a soon-abandoned elimination diet for allergies and trying to avoid eggs and dairy. I wanted something sweet, dense and so deeply full of chocolate that it would stand up to the most epic hormonal rage I could summon. This fulfilled all my needs. Plus it saves me from my reserve of neglected bananas and avocados every time! What a dream. If my chocolate icebox pie didn’t convince you that avocados belong in chocolatey things, then I really think this will. The avocado replaces oil or butter here and makes the bread so wonderfully soft that you won’t miss it. You also won’t taste it because the double chocolate has got you covered. What you will taste is subtly sweet banana, rich chocolate crumbs, silky melted milk-chocolate chips all mixed together into a loaf of edible happiness. I love to eat this warm with a cup of coffee. I love to eat this cold with strawberries and whipped cream topped with mint. I love to eat this. I bet you will too.

Ingredients:

4 overripe bananas
1 small overripe avocado
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon very strong coffee OR 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar* (optional, see note)
1 (120g) cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup (60g) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Note: Using apple cider vinegar makes the bread rise more and gives it a more traditional breadlike, crumbly texture. Omitting it makes it a denser, more fudgelike experience. If you’re into purposely undercooking things to get the slightly gooey batter in the middle you’ll like this without the vinegar. If you’re not, put it in! The pictures are of bread made without vinegar, and no, you won’t taste it if you use it.

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and oil or butter a 9×5 loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mash together the bananas and avocado until combined (it’s okay if it’s lumpy) then add brown sugar, vanilla, coffee or espresso powder, and apple cider vinegar if using, and whisk together. Next, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir just until combined.

   

3. Fold in the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into your loaf pan. I like to save a few chocolate chips to sprinkle on top after pouring the batter.

   

4. Place the pan on the middle rack of your oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a cake tester (or knife, skewer or chopstick) comes out free of batter. It will probably be covered in melted chocolate from a chocolate chip and that’s okay, you just don’t want any streaks of batter. Once it’s ready, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

   

5. Invert the pan to get the bread out, and leave it on a cooling rack to chill as long as you can stand it. It’s okay if some of your chocolate chips get smooshed in the transferring process. Just an excuse to lick chocolate off your fingers.

   

6. Once you’ve waited long enough, transfer the bread to a cutting board and take an instagram pic to show off your culinary prowess.

   

7. Then slice, eat and repeat!

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