One Bite And You Will Be In Chocolate Heaven

One day my sister came home from the Jr. High School dance in tears. Her boyfriend had broke up with her and before the dance was over was holding hands with a girl who was on the cheerleading team. It was the first of many heart wrenching break-ups but the one thing that always seemed to make life better, was coming home to the smell of freshly baked goodies ready to come out of the oven. My mom used to say it was just because she had bananas that were getting over-ripe or had applesauce she needed to use up, but I think she knew that sometimes we just needed a little home baked lovin’ to help smooth out the rough patches of our growing up years.

Thanks Mom!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE QUICK BREAD

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup (1.25 ounces) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (5 ounces) unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup oil (vegetable, avocado, melted coconut, etc.)
• 1 cup (7.5 ounces) light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (5.25 ounces) sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup (6 ounces) chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

• 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9X5-inch baking pan and set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the applesauce, oil, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and sour cream until well blended.
  4. Add the dry ingredients and pour the chocolate chips on top of the dry ingredients. Stir until the batter is just combined (don’t overmix!).
  5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs but not wet batter.
  6. Let the bread cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before running a knife gently around the edges and turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

 

Quick Tip: One batch will make four little loaf pans.

Image and recipe courtesy of Mel at Mel’s Kitchen Café