Le Banana Bread de Marylou Framboise - A Recipe Worth Preserving

I love banana breads. This recipe comes from the French blogger who ran the blog Marylouframboise.com. Her blog is no longer online, but her recipes absolutely deserve to live on. This chocolate chip version is, in her own words, the best banana bread she's ever made — and after trying it, it's hard to disagree.

This recipe has a little story behind it. My friend Clarisse was the one who first introduced me to it — and ever since, we've been making it for just about everyone we know. It quietly became the banana bread in our circle of friends, the one people request by name. But since Marylise's blog went offline, Clarisse keeps texting me: "Do you have Marylou's recipe? I can't find it anywhere." So here it is — saved, once and for all 😉

Ingredients

(Makes 1 loaf)

• 3 very ripe bananas + 1 for decoration
• 210g all-purpose flour
• ½ packet baking powder (about 1 tsp)
• 100g brown sugar (cassonade)
• 110g softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 150g dark chocolate chips
• 2 tsp liquid vanilla extract
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Make the wet base. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar with the softened butter until combined. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas, mixing continuously until you have a smooth batter.

3. Combine the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. Gradually fold this into the wet mixture.

4. Add the chocolate chips. Stir them into the batter, then pour everything into a buttered loaf pan.

5. Decorate. Slice the last banana in half lengthways (or into rounds) and place it on top of the batter for a beautiful finishing touch.

6. Bake for 45 minutes. A skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.

Hot Tips

• Use a chopped chocolate bar instead of chocolate chips. The small pieces will melt and create pockets of chocolate
• in your batter.
• Ripen your bananas in the oven. If your bananas aren't quite ripe enough, place them (unpeeled) in the oven at
• 150°C for 20 minutes. The skins will turn black and the flesh will become soft and sweet — perfect for baking.

A Note on the Source

This recipe was originally shared by Marylise (known online as Marylou Framboise), a French editor and social media manager who documented her favorite finds — recipes, lifestyle tips, and more — on her blog. Her website is no longer active, but her recipes were too good to let disappear from the internet entirely. All credit for this recipe goes to her.