Clearing out the freezer and cupboards today, I found a whole lotta frozen bananas, and lots of other little goodies, and decided to make a special, super-lucky Chinese New Year version of my favourite choc chip banana bread.  I trust you'll indulge me in my superstitious Chinese symbolism!

Firstly, I made them in a mini loaf tin, to resemble gold bars.  Yeah, money!  (Or "prosperity" if we're going for the whole Chinese cliché!)

I also added heaps of add-ins to the batter, representing abundance.


I chose the macadamias for their luxuriousness, and the fact that they kinda look like little coins.  Ditto the white chocolate buttons.  (I used the milk chocolate chips because I wanted to finish off the packet I had in the cupboard.  And they taste awesome).  I added the chia for extra healthy goodness.  Also, the word "chia" means "eat" in Hokkien - representing a wish for lots of good things to eat this year!




They smelled so good in the oven! It's been total torture not eating them, but I want to continue the lucky theme and take all eight (lucky 8!) of them to the Reunion Dinner tonight.  Cannot wait!

Gold Bar Banana Bread

Adapted from Bill Granger's Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Makes 8 mini loaves

250g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

125g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

4 ripe mashed bananas

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips (milk, white, dark or a combination)

1 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

3 tbs chia seeds

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.

Mix the butter, sugar, banana, eggs, vanilla extract, chocolate and nuts in a separate bowl. Add the chia seeds, flour and baking powder, and stir gently to combine.  Do not overmix.

Pour the batter into a lightly greased miniature loaf tray.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until the loaves are cooked when tested with a skewer.  Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.