The quest to find uses for Forrest’s half-eaten bananas continues. I had been getting mildly annoyed at him for never (ever ever) finishing an entire banana, because who wants to finish half a banana that’s been carried around for an hour by a sloppy 3-year old? Nobody, that’s who, so I keep just adding his discarded banana remnants to a rapidly-filling bag in the freezer. But it’s not all bad I guess, because I always have frozen bananas ready to zap in the microwave, mash up, and make banana goodies with. And I am always game for banana bread or banana cake or banana muffins or whatever other banana nonsense a cookbook wants to throw at me, so I hereby resolve never again to be bothered when he requests a banana and tells me he’s finished with it after indulging in a whopping two and a half bites. At least he ate some portion of a healthy snack, which is progress for him and his hot dog loving heart. Always shooting for the stars over here.
I got this recipe from a church cookbook (although after a quick googling, I also found it online here), and it was quite good and all the muffins were eaten in a matter of hours . . . but I felt like they could be better. Richer chocolate is never a bad idea, and I thought they could use maybe a little something else, too. So after some playing around with the recipe, I ended up with a muffin we loved. I’ll definitely be repeating this one, and often. I may or may not have made them twice already in the past 6 days. (Of course I did. I am weak and powerless when met with a burning desire for chocolate.)
Double Chocolate Cinnamon Banana Muffins
makes about 15 muffins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 cup sugar, cocoa, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon; whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, combine mashed bananas, oil, and egg. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in chocolate chips.
Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups with batter, 3/4 full. Combine 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 350 for 18-22 minutes or until they test done.
These pictures are actually from the first time I made the recipe, before tinkering with it, so the extremely astute observer might notice a lack of cinnamon-sugar topping. I loved the extra flavor the cinnamon and cinnamon-sugar topping adds to the muffins. They’re tasty fresh from the oven, but I actually prefer them once they’ve cooled a few hours or sat overnight.
And since they contain bananas, they totally count as health food, right? Never mind the chocolate chips and sugar . . . they have fruit. Balance, my friends. It’s always a delicate balance. And I prefer that the balance includes chocolate. In this case, double chocolate.
Recipe adapted from Food.com
Updated 5/31/2014 to add nutrition facts!
(Recipe makes 15 muffins; serving size 1 muffin)
Total Calories: 251
Total Fat: 10 g (saturated fat: 3 g; trans fat: 0 g)
Cholesterol: 14 g
Sodium: 175 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 40 g (Fiber: 3 g; Sugars: 28 g)
Protein: 3 g
These look amazing! I have been on a banana bread kick lately (bananas make everything automatically healthy, right?) so I am definitely going to try out this recipe!!
ReplyDeleteYum! Last week after begging me to make strawberry-banana muffins, both kids promptly told me that they didn't like them. Seriously?! We'll have to give these a try since they seem to be easily swayed by the power of chocolate. (A trait they clearly got from their father ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhoa, those look amazing! Definitely need to make them immediately.
ReplyDeleteWe cut the banana in half through the peel, and feed our 3-year-old half at a time. The other half sits with the rest of the bunch, and you just slice off the exposed end (a tiny sliver really) when they want to eat the other half another time.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, that recipe looks delicious.
You can also make "icecream". Simply slice up the left over banana and freeze it. When they are good and solid, add them to a food processor with a tablespoon or so of peanut butter and some honey or maple syrup. Blitz until smooth and creamy. Taste and add whatever you think of needs. I toss I some chocolate chips. If you like sloppy ice cream eat immediate otherwise return to the freezer to harden
ReplyDelete