Preheat oven to 350F.

Lightly spray or coat a 9 x 5 baking pan with coconut or canola oil

Note: I do not recommend using olive oil for this recipe.

Mash bananas in a medium bowl for several minutes. I use a pastry blender, but a fork works just fine too. You want a smooth consistency but don’t worry if there are a few small lumps.

Melt coconut oil and add along with all remaining liquid ingredients and stir to combine well.

Put the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small microwave safe bowl and heat in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until almost melted. Stir until all partially melted chips are melted. Then stir in cocoa powder until completely combined.

In a separate large bowl combine all dry ingredients and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, saving the bowl used for wet ingredients. Stir gently with a spoon or spatula until well combined.

Transfer half of the banana bread mixture to the bowl used for wet ingredients.

Add melted chocolate to half of the batter in one bowl.

Now comes the fun part! Place alternating large scoops, about a scant ¼ cup, of chocolate and non-chocolate mixture into the prepared baking pan. Start in one corner and spoon the mixture along the side of the pan, lengthwise, end-to-end. Then repeat along the other side. Add a second layer of scoops of alternating batter, being sure to fill the pan.

Insert a butter knife all the way through the batter at one end of the pan. Gently use a back-and-forth swirling motion from one end of pan to the other to create the marbled effect. Be careful not to overdo it here. About 5-6 motions will suffice. Otherwise, your batter will mix and there will not be any contrast.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Test for doneness with a wooden pick. Mine was just right at the 45-minute mark.

Set baking pan on a cooling rack for 10-15 minutes, then carefully remove from pan. Let the bread continue to cool for at least another 15 minutes before slicing.