Banana Bread with Stuff!

2 C flour
1 C sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 C mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1/3 C vegetable oil
1/4 C milk
1/4 - 1/3 C walnuts or Craisins
1/4 - 1/3 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
In one bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a second bowl, mash bananas and add the eggs, oil and milk. You can add a little vanilla if you like but it's not needed.

Once each bowl of ingredients has been blended, add small amounts of the dry mixture to the wet, stirring as you go. A mixer will be overkill here - you want things moist, with the flour just blended in. Add 'stuff' and stir gently. Pour into greased 9x5 loaf pan. Place on lower rack of oven (top will rise and crack - mine gets quite brown). Bake 55 mins or until toothpick comes out clean (or covered in melty chocolate!) Cool for a few minutes in the pan before removing loaf to wire rack.

Kraft calls this Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread. I usually throw brown bananas in my freezer, and thaw before use. Ideally, use a mixture of fresh and thawed bananas. If you use much more than 1 cup, the texture isn't as nice.

It is important to mix the wet and dry separately, and then mix them together - but not too much, before you add the 'stuff.' Too gloopy and it is overmixed. This really does take 50-55 mins to bake, but I have successfully made this recipe into muffins if you need it to go faster.

I like to do toasted walnuts and dark chocolate - crumbed walnuts don't work as well as chopped. My other usual is White chocolate or dark chocolate with Craisins. I've been thinking of trying crystallized ginger and dark chocolate. What can you come up with?