Choc Chip Banana Bread

I love a nice slice of banana bread, toasted with a bit of butter. But you know what is even better? Banana bread with a sprinkling of choc chips! Most people I mention this recipe to react with 'That's unusual!', but I grew up making choc chip banana muffins so this combination seems pretty common.

This recipe is a great way to use up old bananas and is so easy to make. You pretty much just mix the wet and dry ingredients together then bake. It would make a great  recipe to introduce children to baking as you can do it all by hand and they will only need help with the oven.

I decided to make half of the flour wholemeal to try and add a bit of 'health' factor to the recipe but I should have upped the milk or butter a bit as I feel it lost some of the moisture (wholemeal absorbs more liquid than white) so after being in the fridge for a few days it did taste a bit dry. Feel free to experiment by increasing the liquid a bit, if you do let me know how it goes! Next time I make it I know I will tinker with it a bit more.

Choc Chip Banana Bread

Adapted from Australia's Sweet Baking Favourites by Nestle

What you will need

1 cup plain white flour
1 cup plain wholemeal flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 bag choc chips
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2 large mashed bananas
50g melted butter

What you will need to do

Preheat the oven to 180*C and prepare a loaf tin by spraying the inside with cooking oil. In a bowl, combine the flours, sugar and choc chips (reserve a handful to sprinkle over the top). In a separate bowl combine the eggs, milk, bananas and butter. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Pour into prepared tin and sprinkle the reserved choc chips over the top. Bake for approximately 40 mins or until the centre is fully cooked (check with skewer or cake tester).

Remove from oven and let cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out on to wire to cool completely.

Caramel Choc Chip Cookies

It’s official. I have worked out how to make thick soft cookies, just like I like them. The answer was there all along, on just about every cookie blog I read, but I only just opened my eyes to it now. The trick is not always in the mixture, although a good stiff cookie dough helps. It is in the traying up of the cookies. I have round, spherical measuring cups (but you could use an ice cream scoop) and I used the 1/4 cup to scoop out my mixture and place on my lined baking tray. This left me with high round mounds of cookie dough on my trays and that right there is the secret! Leave space in between each cookie to allow for expanding and spreading and take out of the oven just as they start to brown and you will have the perfect cookie. Thick and soft!

Well I know I have made several cookie recipes on this blog so far but I made this one on a whim because I found Caramel Choc Chips. What the? I am still coming to terms with it and trying to decide if they are milk chocolate with caramel flavouring, white chocolate with caramel flavouring or something completely different all together. Either way they were pretty tasty, not out of this world amazing, but still good.

They are a Nestle product and they can be found in the baking aisle at your supermarket. They have been out for a while but this week they were on special so I had to give them a go. These cookies are super dooper easy to make and as i’ve mentioned already, they are pretty perfect.

Caramel Choc Chip Cookies

Adapted from the recipe on the back of the Caramel Choc Chip packet :)

What you will need

125g butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
1 packet Caramel Choc Chips

What you will need to do

Preheat oven to 200*C and line two baking trays with baking paper. In a bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, salt and egg and continue to beat. Mix in flour until just combined then add the choc chips and mix until all combined.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop (or anything similar you may have), scoop out mounds of dough and place them on the baking trays a good 5cm apart. Place trays in oven and turn heat down to 180*C. bake for 10- 15 minutes or until just starting to brown on edges. Remove from oven and cool on trays. Once cool enough to touch, slide onto a wire rack for further cooling.