Quick And Easy Chocolate Dessert Recipes: How To Make A Chocolate Chip Walnut Loaf

Sometimes you need a really good dessert but you need it to just be done ahead and be simple - you need to just be able to slice it and put it out and have people 'graze' past it! In my case, just in case they didn't stop at the other 50 desserts I had out to cover all the bases.

This is a great, super easy dessert recipe and combines 2 wonderful ingredients - chocolate chips and walnuts - as a loaf dessert!

This recipe is great for just about any situation and the great thing is that you can make it ahead and relax - that is the most important thing in cooking for me.

We all need to have some recipes where you can just put them together, display them and be done with it - no worries about preparation and 'timing'.

This is one of those great recipes - Enjoy!

This is another treasure from my old, old cookbook The Ultimate American Cookbook.

Photo Credit: Flickr Ayelie

Makes 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup sugar - divided – 1-1/2 tablespoons and then rest of sugar for recipe
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 tablespoons potato flour or cornstarch
• 9 tablespoons butter – room temperature
• 2 eggs at room temperature (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons raisins, dried cranberries, or currants
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped fine
• Grated rind of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Powdered sugar for dusting if desired

PREPARATION

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 inch loaf pan with wax paper or parchment paper and grease.
2. Sprinkle 1-1/2 tablespoons of sugar into the pan and tilt to distribute the sugar in an even layer over bottom and sides. Shake out the excess.
3. Sift cake flour, baking powder, potato flour (or cornstarch) 3 times – set aside.
4. With mixer, cream butter until soft. Add the remaining sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating to incorporate thoroughly after each addition.
6. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture – in 3 batches – DO NOT OVERMIX.
7. Fold in vanilla, fruit, walnuts, lemon rind, and chocolate chips until just blended.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared sugared pan and bake until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean – 45-50 minutes.
9. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes – transfer to a rack to cool completely.
10. Dust with powdered sugar if desired before serving.

SUBSTITUTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

• Substitute other nuts for walnuts
• Substitute dried fruits such as apricots or blueberries
• Substitute almond extract for vanilla extract and use almonds for the nuts
• Substitute white chocolate chips for regular chocolate chips
• Substitute butterscotch chips and use walnuts