Banana Bread

My daughter has taken a peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch pretty much every day for seven years running. Which means I always have a lot of bananas in the house and then sometimes she gets lucky and can take leftover pizza or pierogi for lunch and we end up with a backlog of too-ripe bananas. So I puree them with a stick blender and freeze them in one-cup or two-cup portions in freezer bags.  What to do with tons o' banana puree? The answer is always banana bread.  This version is Martha Stewart's lightened slightly due to the applesauce in lieu of some butter (thanks, Amy Spar) and the low fat Greek yogurt.

Makes two large loaves or six small loaves. This recipe can easily be halved.

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 c. unsweetened applesauce
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt
2 c. mashed or pureed very ripe bananas
1 c. Greek yogurt or sour cream or a combo of the two (low-fat or no-fat is fine)
2 t. vanilla extract (I like Nielsen-Massey because boozy flavor)
1 c. mini chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter (or Pam for Baking) your pans of choice.
• With an electric mixer, cream the butter, applesauce and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, beating well.
• Sift/mix (Who am I to judge?) the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture. Blend well at a low speed.  Add the banana puree, yogurt or sour cream, and vanilla. Mix well. Don't over mix.
• Fold in the chocolate chips and pour into the prepared pans.
• Bake one hour for large loaves and maybe about 45 minutes for small. Either way, they should be nicely browned and a cake tester should come out clean. Turn out on a rack to cool.