In this case, I’m speaking of the human variety of guinea pig.  It’s good to have a guinea pig. Or, as it happens, today – two.

You see, today my husband & his BFF are having a Boys’ Night – which, in this household, roughly translates as the two of them eating crap food, playing video games, drinking beer & acting, essentially, like pre-pubescent boys.  Mercifully, I have a laptop & there’s a Blu-ray player in our master bedroom upstairs, so it’s incredibly easy for me to make myself scarce. Because, much as I love them both… they’re pretty much idiots during  Boys’ Night.

The upside to Boys’ Night being held at my house is that I get to try out a new recipe that I’d just found & altered (Well, that and they bring me wine) and sate my craving for chocolate with no fear that any leftovers will remain by the end of the evening.

So without any further ado:

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread à la Weez.

Ingredients
4 small bananas
1.5 C whole wheat flour
0.75 C Splenda
0.25 C Egg Beaters – Plain
1.25 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice
0.25 C Applesauce, unsweetened
3 tbsp Nestle Toll House Mini Chocolate Chips (Semi-Sweet)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°C
• Spray an 8 x 4″ loaf pan with Pam
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & pumpkin pie spice
• Add Egg Beaters, applesauce  & bananas (mash with a fork in a separate bowl first); stir just until combined
• Fold in chocolate chips
• Pour batter into prepared pan
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into centre of loaf comes out clean
• Turn out onto wire rack and allow to cool before slicing

When I baked this, I took it out of the oven at 30 minutes, but I’m thinking that leaving it in for the full 40 minutes would have worked a wee bit better. The very centre was a bit on the too-moist side. But it was DAMN tasty, if I do say so myself. And, as I may have mentioned before… it’s my blog, so I figure there’s no rule against patting myself on the back.

Also? One of my guineau pigs, upon being offered a piece, responded with, “Oh, yes please! But I’ll just take a small piece cuz banana bread’s dry (inhale piece) OH HEY! That IS damn good. Not even a little bit dry at all.”

Cue additional inhalations.

So I guess it’s safe to say that it passes muster; I’ll go ahead and add it to the To-Be-Repeated recipe pile.