Banana Split Bread with Strawberries and Pecans

Looking for an excuse to eat a banana split for breakfast? Look no further! This dreamy banana bread takes the soft, buttery, fruity deliciousness of banana bread and combines it with fresh strawberries and a super-sweet chocolate pecan topping. Snag a slice for breakfast and another for dessert!

Let’s put the veggies on hold for an afternoon and celebrate with a sweet treat, shall we? I know, I know… totally a twist-your-arm sort of ordeal isn’t it?

Yes I baked. Pick your jaw up off the floor, will ya?

This one goes out to all the brown bananas on countertops everywhere. Once firm and green, you’ve really let yourselves go, haven’t you? Now spotted with age, freckled with sweetness, let’s face it – you’ve gone soft on us. There’s really no other way around it… you’re destined for banana bread. Ain’t life sweet like that?

I’m actually one of those weirdos who likes slightly green bananas, even more so when they’re chilled first. I grew up eating them that way and no matter how many looks of horror my friends may shoot me, I’m never stopping. There’s a moment of utter disappointment that washes over me when I trot into the kitchen for my morning banana, only to realize they’ve transformed. Now as freckled as my own skin, I can no longer eat them. Even the chickpea turns her nose at a spotted nana. There’s nothing more we can do besides put on our aprons and throw our hands up in the air.

IT’S BANANA BREAD TIME!!!!!!!!

Thanks to my banana hoarding problem, this happens a lot around here. I usually default to my delightful little Apple Cinnamon Banana Nut Muffins, but apples aren’t in season right now. Strawberries are, however, and when Amber of Slim Pickin’s Kitchen mentioned I should make my monthly banana bread into a banana split, I squealed. Strawberries! Bananas! Pecans! Chocolate! IN EVERY BITE!!! Yes!!!

I tend to use exclamation points with great fervor around here. They’re the foodie equivalent of jazz hands.

Excited to try something new I flung myself into the kitchen and go to work. Magic ensued.

Chances are, if you’re reading this the week I wrote it, strawberries are gloriously at season’s peak or the season JUST ended, so grab the ripest berries you can get your hands on and meet me in the kitchen!

• 1 ¾ cup (8 ¾ oz) whole grain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 large extra-ripe bananas
• 8 TBSP unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 oz fresh strawberries (approx. ¾ cup chopped)
• ¼ cup chopped pecans
• 2 TBSP mini or regular chocolate chips
• 
  
• tools needed:
• 9x5 loaf pan
• mesh strainer/sieve

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spritz a 9x5 loaf pan with oil or rub with butter, set aside.
3. Place bananas in a microwave safe bowl, covered and heat for 5 minutes on high.
4. Transfer to a wire mesh strainer set over a medium saucepan and allow to drain, approx 10-15 minutes, mashing/stirring occasionally. You should have between ½ and ¾ cup of liquid.
5. While you wait on your "banana juice" whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and measure/prep the remainder of your ingredients.
6. Once the liquid has been separated from the bananas, turn burner to medium-high heat and reduce to about ¼ cup, about 5-7 minutes.
7. Add reduced liquid to the bowl of bananas and mash until mostly smooth.
8. Next whisk in your butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
9. Pour banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until just combined.
10. Gently fold in strawberries and pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
11. Smooth the top with your spatula and sprinkle with chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
12. Bake on center rack for 35 minutes, rotate pan, then bake for an additional 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean from the center of the loaf. Bake times may vary a smidge based on oven conditions so my rule of thumb is to always check baked goods a few minutes early and re-test as needed.
13. Allow bread to cool in pan for 15 minutes, then gently remove and place onto a wire cooling rack to continue cooling. Enjoy warm or at room temperature, it's great both ways! Store tightly wrapped on the counter for up to 4 days.

Here’s where things get a little crazy…

feeling fancy? Top the bread off with a drizzle with your favorite caramel sauce or raw honey. Take things even further on the wild side with a scoop of ice cream and/or whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and a fresh strawberry for good measure. This is dessert bread at it’s finest!

The chickpea and I split one jazzed up, over-the-top slice, then devoured the rest of the loaf straight up without a single thing added. It’s SO flipping good! I had originally intended to bring it next door as a movie night snack when things went terribly wrong.

We only had one slice left to bring!

I don’t know how it vanished so fast but between my husband, toddler, and myself, we devoured nearly an entire loaf in a single afternoon. File this one under “MAKE AGAIN IMMEDIATELY!” or more accurately, “MAKE AGAIN BEFORE MY FRIENDS REVOLT!“

I hope you love it as much as we do!

hungry for more?

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