Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread Gift Jars

These chocolate chip pecan banana bread gift jars make great homemade gifts for the holidays.

Ready or not, the holiday season has officially arrived. I’m knee deep in vintage ornaments, snowman everything, and festive coffee mugs. The only thing that’s missing is the third Christmas tree. That’s no typo; I have three–yes, three–Christmas trees, two themed trees and one traditional tree.

What can I say, I’m a sucker for a twinkling tree embellished with shiny bobbles and glitzy garland. I’m like the White House up in here; I have a tree in just about every room.

Every year, I make a new homemade item to gift for the holidays. I haven’t met a person who doesn’t love banana bread, so I decided to stuff all of the dry ingredients required to make a deliciously moist loaf of banana bread into a jar to give as hostess gifts this year.

“Hi, thanks for dinner. Here’s a jar of banana bread.” What’s not to love? If someone handed me a cute little jar adorned with a bow, swanky little tag, and custom recipe card, I’d be giddy with joy.

My peeps deserve the best, so I packed each jar with a heaping 1/2 cup of toasted Diamond Pecans. Hands down, pecans are my favorite of all the nuts. I keep a jar of toasted pecans in my pantry at all times for baking and snacking, and I keep my overflow in the freezer to stay fresh until I’m ready for more.

I also added chocolate chips to this bread…because, why not?

These gift jars are extremely simple to assemble. All you have to do is layer all the ingredients in the jar, starting with the brown sugar and ending with the chocolate chips.

To make this gift extra special, I’ve included a custom recipe card that can be printed and attached to each jar.

Each jar produces an irresistibly moist loaf of banana bread studded with sweet chocolate morsels and toasted Diamond Pecans. The batter comes together with minimal effort in one bowl.

Download the free recipe printable here.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread Gift Jars

Everything you love about banana bread layered in a mason jar to give as gifts for the holidays.

Yield: 1 jar

Total Time: 65 minutes

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

In the jar: 

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped (such as Diamond)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

For the bread: 

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 1 Chocolate Chip Pecan Banana Bread Gift Jar (recipe above)

Directions:

Gift Jar:

1. Add the brown sugar to the bottom of the jar. Pack the brown sugar into the bottom of the jar using a rubber spatula.
2. Add granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, cinnamon, and pecans in that order. Press down gently on the pecan layer to make room for the chocolate chips. Add the chocolate chips to the jar. Place the lid on the jar.
3. Tie a pretty ribbon around the jar and attach the recipe card.

To make the banana bread:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch-by-5-inch loaf pan with butter or nonstick baking spray.
2. Mash bananas in a large bowl.
3. Whisk in melted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk until combined.
4. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the contents of the jar until thoroughly combined.
5. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs are okay).
6. Allow the bread to cool in the loaf pan for 1 hour. Remove the bread from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store the bread in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Or, cut the loaf into thick slices. Place the individual slices into freezer bags. The slices will stay fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months.

All images and text ©One Sweet Mess.

Whipping up one of my recipes? I wanna know about it! Snap a photo and tag your post with #onesweetmess on Twitter or Instagram. Seeing your creations come to life makes my day!

Need homemade gift inspiration? Check out this recipe for Turtle Pretzels.

Disclosure: This recipe was developed for the amazing folks at Diamond of California. All opinions in this post are my own. Thank you for supporting my recipes and site while I work with brands I adore.