How to Make Chocolate Dessert Bread

Jillian is a self-taught chef with more than eight years of experience in the kitchen. Her favorite foods to make include cake and stir-fry.

Chocolate and Bread: A Match Made in Heaven

The inspiration for this recipe came as I was sifting through the pantry one Saturday afternoon, seeking a jar of marinara for the pasta I planned to make in the evening. As fate would have it, there was no marinara to be found—but as I scanned the shelves, my eye fell upon something arguably better: an unopened bag of chocolate chips. Within seconds, I'd compiled a mental list of recipes I might use them in. Perhaps I'd make chocolate chip cookies or chocolate protein pancakes. Or how about brownies or braided bread with chocolate sauce?

Yet none of those seemed... right. Chocolate chip cookies, while classic, required brown sugar—of which I had recently run out—and I couldn’t imagine eating pancakes in the middle of the afternoon. Brownies were too sticky for my taste; bread too plain to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Then it hit me. If regular bread was too bland for my purposes, I could make it less so with a couple of well-placed tweaks. Sugar here. Sour cream there. Some cocoa powder for a bit of pizzaz. And, of course, chocolate chips.

Before I knew it, I‘d created the perfect, most desserty loaf of bread I’d ever had the pleasure of baking.

Chocolate and bread, it seemed to me, was a match made in heaven.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter or shortening
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream shortening and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl until smooth.
3. Add eggs and sour cream, stirring to incorporate. Make sure there are no lumps of shortening visible in the mixture.
4. Add cocoa powder and half of the flour, plus baking soda and salt. Mix for 1 minute before adding the rest of the flour and the chocolate chips. Mix well.
5. Spoon batter into a greased 6"x2" bread tin. Sprinkle a tablespoon of chocolate chips on top if desired.
6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the sides of the loaf have begun to crisp at the top. Remove from oven and let cool for 25 minutes.
7. Slice and enjoy immediately.