Snow Day Baking: Chocolate Chip Pear Chocolate Bread

We had a snow day in the middle of the week.  Which meant pancakes and bacon at 9:30 and pajamas until noon and a long, snowy walk/slog in the afternoon.  Snow in Seattle is just rain in disguise.  We came back soaked and semi-frozen to a warm kitchen that smelled of chocolate.  Hallelujah. 

 

I have been on a bit of a quick bread bender lately and had a couple pears that were a little too ripe for me to want to eat out of hand and one sneaky banana.  Instead of "put a bird on it", my mantra is "put a banana in it" and sometimes I am inspired by things other than the rotting fruit sitting around this place, I swear.  I bought a Fall Baking magazine from a K-Mart somewhere in Montana during our move out here and it had a section featuring a ton of quick bread recipes and possible variations.  Anyways, chocolate and pears and one lonely banana go together, right?  I don't care.

Chocolate Chip Pear Chocolate Bread
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Special Fall Baking magazine recipe for Chocolate Bread

2 C whole wheat flour
1 C sugar
3 Tbl unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbl baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 C milk
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 pear, cored and chopped
1 exceedingly ripe banana, mashed (totally optional)
1/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease loaf pan.

1. Stir together dry ingredients in large bowl; flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder salt.  Make a well in the center.
2. Mix together wet ingredients in medium bowl; egg, milk, oil, (and mashed banana if you have one laying around)
3. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.  Stir until moistened.
4. Fold in chocolate chips and pear.
5. Pour into prepared pan and bake for ~1 hour

(I read somewhere that if you coat the fruit pieces with flour, it will prevent them from sinking to the bottom.  I reserved 1/2 C of the original 2 C of flour and mixed it with my pears before adding them to the batter and by gum, I think it worked.  Although, if I were smart, I would have just mixed all the dry ingredients together and then snuck out a 1/2 C to add to the pears.)  ((I also read somewhere that 'snuck' is not a word.  Sorry, Word Nazis, I will continue to sneak in a good 'snuck' whenever possible.))