A year or two ago I went to grab my guilty pleasure drink from Starbucks. My all time favorite drink, the caramel raspberry frappuccino. If you haven’t heard of this drink, it’s because it isn’t on the menu. My husband got me into this drink when we started dating and it still stands as one of my favorites when we make a Starbucks trip. Anyway… I’m not here to talk about frappuccinos, so that was a bonus. Oh,yes…I remember what I was saying now…so on that one day about a year or two ago when I was grabbing my frappuccino I saw they had some free Starbucks recipe cards for some of the items they feature in their refrigerated case. The recipe I picked up was for the banana walnut bread, which I happen to really enjoy on occasion. I was curious to see how close the recipe actually came to tasting like their banana bread. I figured if they were giving recipes out for free there was no way it was going to be THAT close to the real deal. Although I like walnuts, for some reason I really wanted chocolate in my banana bread when I decided to try out this recipe… and sister let me tell ya… there is NO turning back… the chocolate made the first cut. I LOVE this recipe! I add a bit more buttermilk and vanilla to the recipe than it calls for and it turns out just the way I like it. Turned out the free starbucks recipe ended up being a keeper! Now, I would like to share my favorite banana bread recipe with you all. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Chocolate Chip Starbucks Banana Bread
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 1/8 c. sugar
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 c. buttermilk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3 ripe medium-large bananas (mashed)
3/4 – 1 c. of mini chocolate chips ( I like the nestle brand!)

Step 1: coat a bread pan with vegetable shortening and dust with flour, then set aside.

step 2: preheat oven to 350. Blend together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

step 3: mix together the egg, sugar, and vegetable oil until well combined.

It should look something like this…

step 4: Next, peel the bananas and mash them in a bowl, then set aside

step 5: Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the egg/sugar mixture; then add in the buttermilk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, mixing after each addition until well combined and until it forms a batter-like texture.

… this is what it looks like after the flour is added.

… the buttermilk and vanilla.

… then the mashed bananas.

step 6: Fold in the chocolate chips and scrape into the loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until top crust is golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.