This easy cranberry banana bread recipe takes classic banana bread and adds bursts of cranberry, nutty texture, and rich chocolate flavor to the banana bread batter. This delicious bread is the perfect treat to enjoy over the holiday season with a cup of coffee and can be adapted easily to suit personal preferences and dietary needs.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9-by-5-inch or 8-inch loaf pan with nonstick baking spray and set aside. Or you can use parchment paper with overhangs to pull out the bread later.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and sea salt; whisk to combine, or if you have time, it is better to sift all the ingredients. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until no large chunks are left. Add the soft coconut butter, oil, vanilla, and eggs. Stir until fully combined.
Whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently fold in with a spatula, careful not to overmix. Stir in the tart cranberries and walnuts.
Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes (mine took 59 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out mostly clean, with no raw batter on it. Start checking on the bread at the 50-minute mark, and if it still needs to bake more, check on it every 5 minutes.
Once fully baked, remove the pan from the oven and set it on a wire rack while the bread cools in the pan for 15 minutes. For easy removal, run a knife around the edges of the entire loaf and gently remove it from the pan onto the wire cooling rack; let it stand until slightly warm.