Mushy

On Saturday night, we had a housewarming/birthday party for me. Naturally, I made cookies. I kept it simple and went with plain chocolate chip. I was well on my way to being passed out face down on my bed (yes, that is how the night ended) when I began the baking process. Miraculously, I managed to make a batch consisting of a good balance of raw and pseudo caramelized cookies. The cookies seemed to be a success, stealing much of the attention from me until they disappeared twenty minutes after emerging from the oven. Relief.

Anyway, I was in no state to document this cookie process. Instead, I will share tonight's bake sesh. Wilma, despite being spread thin with philanthropy, generously donated two overripe bananas to the feed-Marissa cause. Obviously, banana bread was in the near future. On the whole, the creation of the banana bread was standard. It involved a trip to the grocery store to replace the bag of chocolate chips my lovely roomie may or may not have consumed in a moment of chocolate desperation. Once the key ingredient (contrary to popular belief, it is chocolate chips and not bananas that are most necessary for making banana bread) was obtained, the rest fell together with ease.

Commonwealth Banana Bread
adapted from allrecipes.com

* 1 stick butter
* 3/4 cups brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 bananas
* 2 cups flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp salt
* 1 - 2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚ F.

Cream butter and sugar (or, in this case, have Dani beat the shit out of the butter and sugar until they are indistinguishable from each other). Add the eggs and bananas. Mashing the bananas in advance is not a bad idea. Obviously, I did not do this and instead used a combination of wooden spoon and fork to get the banana sufficiently mashed.

Add the flour, b.s. and salt. Mix well. Then add the choc chips. Stir until combined. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Note: don't let Dani try and force you to take it out early. She will be persistent, but it is imperative that you resist.