The Perfect Banana Bread for a Midlife Crisis
A deeply comforting banana bread with toasted walnuts and melty chocolate chips, perfectly moist with a soft, tender crumb and just the right amount of indulgence baked in.
There’s a sacred rite of passage we all eventually walk through as we approach middle age. It’s this patch of time where you get really into making either sourdough or banana bread. And you make it a lot.
I can’t explain this phenomenon, and I don’t feel the need to explore it too deeply. It’s a thing. It’s delicious. It’s fine.
My perfect banana bread recipe
My perfect banana bread recipe was born during the COVID shutdowns, which happened to line up with my fortieth birthday. I felt oddly supported by the Universe while baking this bread, because every other gay man, woman, and precocious teenager stress-baking their way through the pandemic was right there with me. Even in isolation, I could feel the kinship.
My version leans into walnuts and chocolate chips. It lands somewhere between classic banana bread and the banana bread version of Chunky Monkey.