Jul 7 2012

Crockpot Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

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So since we’re having this veritable heat wave right now in the ‘Burgh the last thing I wanted to do was turn on the oven and cook. BUT… *sigh* by 9am this morning I was jonesin’ to cook… something; anything. Since Mr. Fantabulous was off in La-La Sleepyland I knew I couldn’t really make too much of a ruckus in the kitchen. As I was sitting at the kitchen table I happened to look at my counters; I mean really look. OMG… how in the hell did they get so just… cluttered and messy??? I mean the load of just crap I had on them… dear Lord! My Mama would have tanned my hide if she saw ’em. So I drank my protein drink and rolled up my sleeves. Well okay that’s not true as I was wearing a tank shirt and it’s um sleeveless but you get the gist 😀

Let’s just say me and Lemon Fantastic got real intimate.. I scrubbed the counters, cabinets, back splash and anything else that was in the way… *mental note: African Violets do NOT like Lemon Fantastic …Oops!*. Mmmm my kitchen was smelling awesome.

Woo hoo! Kitchen cleaning done.. NOT! I made the mistake and looked down.

BIG MISTAKE.

Damn it!

I had more stuff stuck on the floors, spots and crumbs than actual tile… I think the person that broke in my house that ate of my watermelon must have put all of that onto my floor! Bastards! *wink*. LOL So out came the mop, bucket and Mr. Clean. That beautiful bald sailor man who smells FANTASTIC! Sorry Mr. Fantabulous but I cheated on you this morning with Mr. Clean. I couldn’t help myself. He was just lemony fresh and he made my kitchen floor spotless. Um and baby, I kinda liked it *blush* LOL

After I got that all done I decided to dirty my kitchen all over again. See as I was cleaning I was thinking of things I could make that wouldn’t force my AC to work overtime. And as I was cleaning I moved 3 bananas that HAD to be used today. I mean we’re talking HAD TO BE USED! They were so soft. To the point that when I was making this, I couldn’t peel the bananas but rather I had to ‘squeeze’ the banana out. It was that ripe. Then it hit me.. “ugh… I don’t want to turn the oven on. But I have to use these bananas. Crap! Now what?” Well as I was cleaning the lower cabinets I saw my barrage of crock pots.

Yes, I have a bunch of them. Honestly, I think I have 7, maybe 8 of ’em. And yes, I use them all! So shush.. don’t judge!

Anyway, I thought I’d give that a shot; you know, making the bread in the crockpot. I mean I’ve made tons of desserts before in it as well as spoon breads so this shouldn’t be too hard.

I first turned on the crockpot to high. Thinking that I didn’t want the bottom of the bread pan to sit directly on the crock insert, I decided to put 2 tart pans with removable bottoms (bottoms removed) on the bottom. By doing this, it would allow for even air flow. Pretty smart, huh? 🙂

While the crock was heating up, I made the batter and poured it into the prepared pan. I placed the pan into the crock (carefully as to not burn my fingers) and put the lid on. Now about 5 minutes into this cooking I got to thinking on how crockpots work. They produce moisture and steam. Well I didn’t want to steam the bread and I certainly didn’t want that moisture to drip onto the bread. So I removed the lid, draped about 6 big sheets of paper towels over top of the pan (you want it taut so it’s almost a tent – you don’t want it to sag else it will dip into the batter). I also didn’t place the lid on fully – I kind of let it cocked a little to allow the steam to escape. The paper towels would catch any moisture dripping.

I replaced the lid and let it cook for about 3.5 hours on high. Now this cooked longer than normal only because it’s a big loaf and the pan was more than 3/4’s full. Next time I’ll only make it 1/2 way full. Or… use a smaller pan.

Now the bread won’t get as brown as it does when you bake it in the oven. If that bothers you I think it would be OK to toss it in the oven for 5 minutes at 350 just to give it that caramel color. I didn’t but then I think the color on this one is pretty nice.

Verdict:

It doesn’t rise as much as when it’s baked in the oven.
The taste is really, REALLY good!
It’s SUPER moist.
DEFINITELY a make again!

Now, I’ve had a few people ask me how they could make this if they didn’t have a bread loaf pan. No worries… Really 🙂 Well okay, unless you don’t have any empty tin cans.

Just take 2-3 empty tin cans with the labels removed. The baking time should be about 2-3 hours. Now these would be taller and round (DUH TKW! LOL). Now I think this would look amazing sliced in rounds, topped with caramelized bananas (think banana’s foster) and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream!