Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

How is it that I can’t make anything with bananas in it without singing Jack Johnson’s ‘Banana Pancakes‘ at the top of my lungs? Sure, I sing a lot in the kitchen, but if I want to I can be perfectly quiet when I bake other things. I can bake chocolate or blueberry muffins without singing a single syllable! But whenever I’m making something banana-ey – like these fluffy Banana Chococlate Chip Muffins – I always find myself singing about rain and sleeping in. And banana pancakes.

And the worst part is, I don’t really know the lyrics to the song. I know the first line. And maybe the second. Which basically means that, in the full thirty minutes it took me to whip these babies up, I sounded like a broken record, repeatedly singing something like:

Can’t you see that it’s just raining.
Ain’t no need to go outside.

After which I kind of freestyled the rest of it:

Baby, haka ukelele, momma made a baby
Really don’t mind you practice
‘Cause you’re my little lady
Waking up to early, maybe we can sleep in
Making banana pancakes
Pretend that there’s no world outside
We could pretend it all the time…

It doesn’t even make sense… What does ‘haka ukelele’ mean? Where did I get that from?

Weird…

But just pretend I’m normal for a second. These Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are the best! Well, if you like bananas. And chocolate. And muffins. And if you can bear singing weird things that don’t make sense. Because, if you’re anything like me, that’s what will happen when you’re making them.

And baking them.

And cooling them in the pan for a few minutes.

Basically, the only way to stop singing crazy banana songs is by stuffing your mouth with one or two of these muffins…

And about these muffins: they’re kind of, sort of, a little bit healthy. Well, not actually healthy, but healthier than most muffins, at least! You see, these babies have a little whole wheat flour in them. And mashed bananas. And even yogurt! The yogurt makes them moist and yummy. The whole wheat flour makes them a little sturdier than regular white flour muffins and the bananas make them sweet and delicious!

I got this recipe from Sally McKenney‘s cookbook: Sally’s Baking Addiction. I did adapt her recipe a bit, because I didn’t have any regular milk or white whole wheat flour. Plus, I halved Sally’s recipe, because I didn’t feel like eating twelve muffins. Three I could manage!

But only because they were packed with banana flavor and stuffed with chocolate chips!

Oh, and a little tip: make sure to use ripe bananas! Preferably bananas that have been sitting on your counter for a couple of days. You know, those speckled, brownish bananas no one ever wants to eat anymore. If you want your muffins to be packed with sweet banana flavor, those are the bananas you’re looking for! Just mash them up and throw them in a big bowl with things like brown sugar, cinnamon and chocolate chips.

Mix, mix, mix, bake, bake, bake and…

… enjoy!

They make a great on-the-go breakfast!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

22 mins

Total time

37 mins

 

Author: Adapted from 'Skinny Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins' by Sally McKenney

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 100g (or ¾ cup + 2½ teaspoons) all-purpose flour
• 55g (or ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons) whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• big pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 43g (or 2 tablespoons) honey
• 50g (or ¼ cup, loosely packed) light brown sugar
• 105g ripe banana (1 large banana), mashed
• 2 tablespoons of non-fat yogurt
• ½ egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 90ml (or ⅓ cup + 2 teaspoons) buttermilk
• 70g (or ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) dark chocolate chips
• ½ thinly sliced banana, for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F (standard oven setting) and butter and flour a muffin pan.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the honey, brown sugar, mashed banana, yogurt, egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk and whisk into a thick batter. Don’t overmix the batter. It’s okay if there are still a few pockets of flour in the batter.
4. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the chocolate chips.
5. Divide the batter over six muffin tins, filling them all the way to the top. Top the batter with a few more chocolate chips and two or three banana slices. Bake for 5 minutes, crank the oven temperature down to 175°C/350°F (don’t take the muffins out of the oven) and bake for another 12-15 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
6. Remove the muffins from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10-20 minutes.
7. Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days or in the freezer for up to three months.

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 1 Calories: 240

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