Chocolate Banana Bread

This is my favorite banana bread recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (if you only have regular unsweetened cocoa powder, just add 1/8 tsp of baking soda to it)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe bananas, mashed well
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cups white chocolate chips (I actually prefer to use milk chocolate semi-sweet chips instead)
brown sugar for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients until just combined and batter is thick and chunky. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared pan and sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse brown sugar (optional). Bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.