Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Bread

The idea for this bread came to me when I was slathering peanut butter on chocolate banana bread. I realized the extra step could be eliminated by swirling the peanut butter into the batter. I used creamy skippy here. I’m not sure if all-natural peanut butter that separates and is kind of gross would work, but you could try.

Don’t forget to bake the bread tented with tin foil, it keeps the peanut butter from drying out. If you want to omit the banana, and make this more of a Reeses bread, replace the banana with yogurt and increase the sugar to 1 cup. If it’s not sweet, it won’t taste like a Reeses. You can also add 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips.

Ingredients

1.5 cups (195g) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (21g) cocoa powder
3/4 tsp table salt
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 – 3/4 cup sugar (more sugar for a sweet tooth)
2 very ripe bananas, mashed ≈ 1 cup banana puree*
1/2 cup plain yogurt or milk + 2 tsp vinegar**
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil, coconut oil, or 1/2 stick melted butter
1/3–1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (skippy or jif)***

* if you don’t want any banana flavor, you can replace the two bananas with 1 cup of plain yogurt
**if you want stronger banana flavor, you can replace the 1/2 cup of yogurt with a third banana
***natural peanut butter would not be the best choice here

Step-by-step Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and spray an 8×8 square baking dish with nonstick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add yogurt/milk, eggs, and oil. Whisk to combine.
Dump flour mix in wet ingredients. Add chocolate chips (if using), and stir together until just combined. Pour into prepared baking dish.
In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat peanut butter for 30 seconds until it’s the consistency of yogurt. Dollop warmed peanut butter over batter. Using a knife, swirl peanut butter.
Cover with tin foil, and bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Make sure to test an area without peanut butter.