Molly's Banana Bread with Chocolate and Ginger

banana bread served here with a bit of rhubarb compote

I have always liked the idea of cooking, but for the past couple of months, I've been practicing this thing called follow through. This has resulted in way more time than I'd like to admit searching for recipes that meet this criteria and that are actually interesting.

One of my new reads is A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg of Orangette fame. In the book, she weaves stories of her life with recipes she grew up with. I actually haven't finished yet (it's kind of annoying to read something that makes you hungry), but I have already tackled one of the recipes. The recipe below is for a banana bread adapted (to make it gluten and cow milk free) from Molly's book.

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour

3/4 cup raw cane sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate (> 70% cacao) shards

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

3 large ripe bananas

1/4 cup plain sheep yogurt

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients, including the chocolate and ginger.

Melt the butter. I cheat and use the microwave. Combine all of the "wet" ingredients, including the bananas, in a separate bowl. You're now ready to mix your wet and dry ingredients. Molly recommends not overmixing and warns that it will still be slightly lumpy.

Bake for about an hour.

I love that she came upon the recipe because a friend was gifted a loaf. I've already given one of these away myself and am very much enamored with the thought of continuing the tradition.