Last week I made pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches and made cole slaw as a side dish.  The cole slaw used  mostly plain yogurt and just a few tablespoons of mayo.  I had to buy a big container of plain yogurt since everything in the small containers was flavored.  What to do with an entire pint of plain yogurt?  I ate some of it for breakfast with granola, but after 2 days of this I went in search of something I could make to use up the yogurt.  I found this recipe for banana bread on The Fresh Loaf.

I made two batches of the bread; one with chocolate chips and one without.  The bread is much more moist than other banana breads I’ve made, and not as dense.  The plain bread is just sweet enough, and is delicious toasted with a little spread of butter.  I would add some toasted pecans or walnuts next time.  The chocolate chip version was also tasty, but I prefer my banana bread without chocolate.  Call me crazy.

Yogurt Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 stick (4-5 tablespoons) butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2 or 3 very ripe bananas
• 1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (fat free is fine)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• ½ cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and grease and sugar a 9×5 loaf pan.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until creamy.
3. Add in eggs, one at a time and mix well.
4. Mix in yogurt and vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and powder and cinnamon if using.
6. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients a little a time, then stir in chocolate chips if using.
7. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.