Guest Author - Sheryl Tilley

The lovely aroma of breads and cookies baking can instantly turn a very plain house into a real home. Real estate agents realized this years ago and many suggest to sellers that something delicious be baking in the oven while the house is being shown to prospective buyers or while being previewed by other realtors.

Yes, the delightful smell of baking banana bread puts H-O-M-E into the forefront of buyer’s and seller’s thoughts. I should know. Besides being a voracious chocolate lover, I’m also a retired real estate broker and staged many a home this way.

I have a terrific recipe for Chocolate Banana Bread for you this week. It will give that sought-after wafting aroma floating through your home a delicate one-two punch. The chocolate is provided by the addition of dry cocoa powder.

This recipe will make one loaf. You’ll find it to e quite rich and moist. The wonderful surprise is that it’s relatively low in fat. It’s a winner all the way around for young and old alike and will quickly become a requested favorite.

Because the recipe is so easy, I make two to four loaves on each baking day. One to give away, one for the household and two for the freezer. The loaves keep really well in the freezer and will be there when you need a fast dessert or a little something extra.

Chocolate Banana Bread Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a floured greased loaf pan.

Ingredients:
1 and ½ cups of all purpose flour
1 and ¼ cups of granulated sugar
6 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 scant teaspoon of cinnamon
2 eggs
¼ cup of vegetable oil
3 ripe bananas - (I let mine get almost all black. This increases the banana sweetness.)

Method:
Now a lot of recipes will tell you to cream this and mash that. I’m not going to go there. I’m writing this down just the exact way I do it and I get excellent results. Here we go:

Put all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat well for about two minutes.
Pour the mixture into your prepared floured, greased loaf pan.
Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 5-10 minutes.
Flip it out of the pan onto the wire rack and cool completely.

Enjoy!