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Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe is adapted from one in the Family Fun Cookbook that I received for my 12th birthday. In this case, I dialed down the sugar a bit and added the chocolate chips.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sesame and chocolate share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 43 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep15 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan with a little of the butter or margarine.

  2. In a bowl, whisk the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until evenly mixed.

  3. In a large bowl, beat the remaining butter or margarine with the brown sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes.

  4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla extract.

  5. Stir in the mashed bananas and yogurt until smooth.

  6. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

  7. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and sprinkle the sesame seeds over it.

  8. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

  9. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and let cool completely before slicing.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sesame + chocolatetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Vanilla + bananatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Vanilla + chocolatetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together10,018 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sesame + wheattop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together86 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the sesame

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, wheat, flour, banana):

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Pecansbetter flavor fit
  3. Walnutbetter flavor fit
  4. Sesamethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, wheat, flour, banana. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).