Hershey Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (SUPER MOIST)

INGREDIENTS ½ cup (8 tbsp/113 g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature 1 cup (198 g) light brown sugar, packed 1 large egg, at room temperature 3-4 overripe bananas* 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla extract 2 cups (256 g) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder ½ teaspoon (2g) baking soda ½ teaspoon (2g) kosher salt 1 ½ cup (263 g) semi-sweet mini chocolate chips  INSTRUCTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease your 9x5 loaf pan generously with shortening or baking spray, this makes taking the banana bread out of the pan easy. You can also use parchment paper to line the pan. In a large mixing bowl, cream the unsalted butter and brown sugar together for 3-5 minutes with an electric hand mixer, until nice and smooth. Break up the bananas and mash them into the creamed butter and sugar with a fork or spatula until as smooth or as chunky as you like. Mix them into the creamed butter well. Mix the room temperature egg with the bananas and butter, then add vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated. Add the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt to the wet ingredients in your mixing bowl, stirring in with a rubber spatula until all the dry ingredients are just combined. Don't overmix or you'll end up with a loaf of dense banana bread. Once the dry ingredients are almost completely mixed in, stir in 1 cup of the mini chocolate chips until they're dispersed throughout the batter. Carefully pour the chocolate chip banana bread batter into your prepared loaf pan, then sprinkle the top of it evenly with the last ½ cup of chocolate chips. Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes, or until a knife or cake tester poked into the middle of the loaf has no wet batter (wet chocolate chips are perfectly okay!) Let cool for 30 minutes to one hour before slicing, or else the banana bread will fall apart. Wrap the completely cooled banana bread in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for 4-5 days. NOTES *don't have enough bananas? Replace the missing banana with ½ cup of applesauce! Got some bananas that just aren't there yet, but you still want that chocolate chip banana bread? Here are a couple of tips on ripening your bananas: Place them on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). They're ready when they're completely browned, but let cool before you use them. Put your bunch of bananas in a brown paper bag overnight. They release more ethylene together than they do apart, and ethylene is what speeds up the ripening process.  FREEZING BANANA BREAD Once the banana bread has cooled completely, wrap the loaf in plastic wrap well and in a layer of foil. It keeps in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can also freeze the slices individually to warm up whenever you like in the oven or microwave under low heat. NUTRITION INFORMATION:  YIELD: 12 SERVING SIZE: 1 Amount Per Serving: CALORIES: 267TOTAL FAT: 8gSATURATED FAT: 4gTRANS FAT: 0gUNSATURATED FAT: 3gCHOLESTEROL: 17mgSODIUM: 40mgCARBOHYDRATES: 50gFIBER: 3gSUGAR: 27gPROTEIN: 4g