Chocolate Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3 Large Bananas, Mashed
• 3 Cups (12oz) White Whole Wheat Flour
• 1/2 Cup (1.5oz) Black or Dark Cocoa Powder
• 3/4 Cup Sucanat or Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 Tsp. Salt
• 1/2 Cup (4oz) Butter or Coconut Oil, Melted
• 2 Large Eggs
• 3/4 Cup Organic Whole Milk
• 1/4 Cup Organic Whole Milk Yogurt
• 1/4 Cup Walnuts, Chopped (Optional)

Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce

• 1/2 cup *hazelnut butter (or almond butter)
• 1-2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (or even better is raw cacao powder which has not been processed at all and retains all the antioxidants and no sugar)
• 1-2 tablespoons raw honey or maple syrup

Directions

1. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
2. Mix together eggs, sugar, milk, yogurt and bananas.
3. In a large bowl, gently mix together the flour mixture, egg mixture and butter. Stir in walnuts.
4. Place batter into a greased 9x5 loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350° or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce

1. 1. Place hazelnut butter in a shallow bowl.
2. 2. Add cocoa powder and mix it into the nut butter with a fork.
3. 3. Mix in honey or maple syrup. Taste and adjust seasonings. If you need to thin the mixture, add halzelnut oil, walnut oil, or coconut oil (warmed to liquid consistency).
4. *To make your own hazlenut butter, toast hazelnuts on a cookie sheet in a 400 degrees oven for about 10 minutes. Remove as much of the nut skins as possible in a damp towel, add to a food processor and process into a paste.