Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Greg and I somewhat-crazily attended both of our families’ holiday celebrations, despite the 1,600 miles between them. It’s easy — just fly west on Christmas morning! I love that we’re able to do this, but splitting the holiday does make it a little weird. For example, we spend Christmas morning trying to stuff gifts from generous family members into over-filled suitcases and waiting in airport lines. Also, we never finish our advent calendar because we leave it behind halfway through. We leave our Christmas tree behind, too, almost right after setting it up! This year, we also missed our opportunity to drop off small gifts for our friends in LA, like baked goods or ornaments.

Fortunately, the twelve days of Christmas extend until January 6! We made chocolate chip banana bread for our friends and delivered it on Epiphany (the traditional date, not the liturgically-observed date). I cut 18″ strips of fabric with pinking shears and tied them, along with homemade tags, around the loaves.

My mom is the banana bread maker in my family, and she has always made my great-grandmother’s recipe for everyone (including us, we get several in the mail each year!). For a non-family-secret recipe, with the addition of chocolate chips, try this. Your friends will love you! (Not that they don’t already, of course.)