Banana Nut Dark Chocolate Chunk Bread

This Dark Chocolate Banana Nut bread is all I can think about for this week’s Flashback Friday after that chocolate brioche bread from Whole Foods this week.

Happy Biggest Loser Day all! It’s sort of crazy to think it’s “that” time for the show again. I can honestly say that this is the first time since I’ve been watching The Biggest Loser that I am not sure if I really want to watch it. I loved watching Jillian & I think it just worked with her/Bob. I am not too excited for the “new” trainers, but, I am going to give them a one to two show chance.

Are any of you watching this season? What do you think?

I started my day with a banana plus a Venti Iced Nonfat Latte with caramel drizzle (3 points+).

When I got home, I got to work on whipping up the Banana Nut Dark Chocolate Chunk Bread I have been thinking about ever since I received this Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate as part of the Foodbuzz Taste Maker Program.

The folks over at Ghirardelli challenged us to come up with some mouth watering recipes using their Intense Dark Chocolate. My first instinct was to go for the Sea Salt Soiree, but, I resisted and decided on using the Twilight Delight 72% Cacao.

REAL ingredients that you can recognize!

2 points+ a square which isn’t too bad since a little richness goes a long way.

I decided to use my favorite Brown Sugar Banana Nut Bread Recipe as my base but decided to lighten up the recipe by reducing the fat & sugar by half so I could layer in an entire bar of chocolate chunk goodness.

If you love chocolate walnut covered bananas, then, you are going to love this bread. It’s slightly dense from the bananas, crunchy from the roasted walnuts and decadent from the rich dark chocolate chunks you get in every single bite. I am pretty sure once you try it, you won’t believe it’s a Weight Watchers friendly recipe.

BANANA NUT DARK CHOCOLATE CHUNK BREAD (Print Recipe Here)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup golden brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 oz 0% Greek yogurt
2 large eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 small bananas, mashed
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dry roasted chopped walnuts
2 Tbsp chopped walnuts for topping
3.5 oz Ghirardelli Intense 72% Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×5 pan with nonstick spray.

2. Cream butter, Greek yogurt and brown sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time. Stir in vanilla and banana.

3. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt until combined. Fold in 1/2 cup walnuts & chocolate until combined.

4. Pour in pan, top with additional 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts and bake 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Want to make Banana Nut Muffins? Follow the instructions above including sprinkle the muffin tops with chopped walnuts. Spray 14 muffin tin cups with nonstick spray and bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 14 slices, 7 Smartpoints, 5 points+ each

Stretch your points by making mini muffins. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick spray and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Makes 42 mini muffins for 2 Smartpoints each.

Nutritional information per slice:

It really is as good, if not better than it looks.

I planned my lunch today around having some of this Rosemary Sea Salt Focaccia I picked up at Sam’s Club yesterday (don’t mind The Husband’s nibble lol).

This bread is almost the size of a cookie sheet and you get 4 points+ for 1/7th of it!

I am pretty sure I might be the ONLY person wanting soup today since it was over 100 degrees…I totally blame my cold and the fact that I CRAVE this simple Butternut Squash Soup.

Soup + Bread = LOVE! (8 points+ for lunch)

After lunch, I spent the afternoon organizing our closet, getting rid of old clothes and putting away the new clothes, then, organizing and cleaning out our guest room.

Dinner involved my new salad addiction ~ 4 Bean Salad with Sunflower Seeds over greens with 1 Tbsp Balsamic Dressing (2 points+).

It’s sweet, tangy, nutty, crunchy and doesn’t feel like you are eating a “diety” salad.

I picked up a bunch of heirloom tomatoes at the Farmer’s Market on Sunday. I decided to combine them with some garden cherry tomatoes to make up a big batch of Summer Garden Pasta with “No Cook” Tomato Basil sauce.

The verdict ~ I think it tastes better with cherry tomatoes, but, we both totally gobbled it up.

1 1/2 cups for 5 points+.