This recipe marries two of my favorite things in all of baking and pastry: chocolate and bread. These little loaves pack a triple chocolate punch with chocolate incorporated into the batter and mini chocolate chips speckled throughout. The third and final chocolate flourish is on top - making this bread a real looker!
I made a video of how to make chocolate curls back in 2011, and you can find that tutorial here. I still do it exactly the same way now as I did then! There's no real trick, it's mostly about timing and testing the chocolate with a spatula edge every few minutes to see if it's ready to curl.
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Chocolate shavings are easier to manage than chocolate curls, so if the curls feel daunting just grab a veggie peeler and start shaving the side of a chocolate bar onto a plate. Chocolate melts at body temperature, so try to avoid picking up the shavings with your fingers and shake the shavings onto the bread loaves using the plate.
This bread lives up to its name, it's quick to assemble and almost as sweet as cake. You'll need four mini loaf pans for this recipe, although I'd assume you could bake it as one large loaf with additional bake time.
Chocolate Quick Bread
Yields four mini loaves
1 1/2 cups (255g) mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup (114g) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (130g) packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (380g) unsweet applesauce
2 1/2 cups (320g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (260g) powdered sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray mini loaf pans with flour-based baking spray or grease and flour the pans.
In a microwave-safe bowl, melt 1 cup chocolate chips at 100% power at 30 second intervals until smooth; set aside. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs and melted chocolate. Mix to combine. Add the applesauce and mix again. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture and mix to combine; fold in the remaining chocolate chips.
Spoon the batter into the four prepared pans (do not fill beyond 3/4 full). Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick tester comes out clean. Turn the loaves out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
[post_ads]Mix together the powdered sugar and milk. The mixture should be thick. Spoon the glaze over the cooled loaves.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals until it can be stirred smooth. Spread the chocolate on the back of a large baking sheet. Refrigerate for 5 minutes, or until set. Using a spatula scrape the chocolate forward. If it breaks, wait 2-3 minutes and test again. When the chocolate begins to curl in front of the spatula, continue to scrape the chocolate from the pan into curls. Gently transfer the curls to the tops of the bread loaves.
When the glaze is set, transfer the loaves to gusseted bread bags and tie with festive ribbon. Give to delighted friends and family.
Courtesy: Sprinkle Bakes
