Eliza’s Banana Bread

I don't know about you but, every so often I end up with a few overripe bananas and this bread, a favorite of our granddaughter Eliza (photo), is a great way to use them up.  In fact, it's worth buying a few extra bananas just for this purpose!

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
¾ cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. Butter and flour 9x5x2 ½ -inch metal loaf pan. 
3. Whisk first 4 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. 
4. Combine chocolate chips and walnuts in small bowl; add 1 tablespoon flour mixture and toss to coat. 
5. Beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until well blended. 
6. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. 
7. Beat in mashed bananas, lemon juice and vanilla extract. 
8. Beat in flour mixture. 
9. Spoon ⅓ of batter into prepared pan. 
10. Sprinkle with half of nut mixture. 
11. Spoon ⅓ of batter over. Sprinkle with remaining nut mixture. 
12. Cover with remaining batter. 
13. Run knife through batter in zigzag pattern.

Bake bread until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Turn out onto rack and cool.