Chocolate Banana Muffins

A couple Mondays ago, I asked what your favorite muffin was so I could get some inspiration for future Muffin Mondays. And you sent some great ideas! Mostly fall-oriented which makes me happy. More pumpkin and apple muffins are in the future. Also some cranberry and more unique flavors (I definitely need to organize my Pinterest boards...).

In the meantime, chocolate for breakfast! These double chocolate muffins are really close to cupcakes. Normally bananas replace an ingredient like butter or oil but this was an addition that made them more breakfasty, right?

A little cocoa powder goes a long way, transforming the standard batter into some dark chocolatey goodness. But one type of chocolate isn't enough, gotta add some chocolate chips too! Folded in with extra love and care.

Baked for 30 minutes until firm, a glass of milk is in order for this sweet muffin!

Recipe

• 1 cup bananas, mashed (1-2 bananas)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup and 1 Tablespoon almond milk (unsweetened)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups of flour
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a muffin tin and set aside
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Add the vanilla and egg. Whisk together until smooth.
3. Stir in the oil and milk. Next stir in the sugars. 
4. Slowly fold in the cocoa powder until incorporated. Then add the baking soda and salt. Lastly, fold in the flour.
5. Before spooning the batter into the pan, fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Fill each muffin liner 1/2-3/4 full.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until firm. 
8. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

Muffin Monday Recap

There are 52 Mondays in a year (sometimes 53). Not that I make muffins every single Monday although I'm feeling the pressure but that's a lot of muffin variations. To me, the standard muffins are blueberry, poppyseed and those delicious cinnamon coffee cake ones at Dunkin Donuts. Woah. Serious deliciousness.

If we take a step back, there are distinct categories of muffins. We've got:

Classics

• Berry- blueberry, strawberry, cranberry, mixed berry, the combinations aren't endless but you can't beat a good blueberry muffin.

 

• Poppyseed- my personal favorite because lemon! But orange was pretty tasty too.

 

• Banana- A surprising crowd pleaser! I though banana bread would trump every other banana variety but banana walnut was the most complimented!

Almost a Cupcake

• Chocolate- chocolate for breakfast?! Yes please. 

• Pumpkin- just add Nutella. Still a muffin, really close to a cupcake. 

 

Crunchy/Healthy

• Vegetables- sneak your vegetables wherever you can, even if it's in a muffin!

 

• Oats- basically baked oatmeal in a handy muffin shape

So far, the classics have been the most popular but I'm looking to expand. I've starting getting requests including another pumpkin variation and then I would like to go for some more oatmeal-inspired ones.

What are some of your favorite muffin flavors? 

Carrot Cake Muffins

There was a cafe near my apartment when I lived in Boston that was conveniently located between my apartment and the gym. One of the first times I went to a gym class on a Saturday morning, I stopped into this cafe on my walk home, feeling very accomplished for the day. Being only 9am, I stopped in for a cappucino (a luxury then which has now become a routine) and a muffin. They had a muffin called a Morning Glory muffin which contained carrots and zucchini. I justified the muffin with the whole gym at 8am and containing vegetables thing.

Carrot Cake muffins are similar in that they contain vegetables and you're basically eating a cupcake but calling it a muffin. This version, however, was gluten free and has no refined sugar so it's even better! Granted, when I brought these to the office, I didn't mention the gluten free or sugar free part for fear no one would eat them. Embrace the change, people.

The first time I made carrot cake anything, I sat there using a grater to get shredded carrots. Then I got a food processor and it changed everything. Definitely use a machine if you have one! It saves so much time. Let's also add applesauce to the list of things not readily available in London. I ended up with one choice of applesauce that had cubes of apple. I could probably have pureed it in a blender or food processor but the chunks of apple were actually a nice touch. Once I go apple picking, I will just make my own for use in recipes.

Flour and oats are whisked together in a small bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, whisk together your eggs, applesauce, baking magics (powder and soda), cinnamon, vanilla, salt and maple syrup. This is where we get our sweetness! Stir together the wet and dry ingredients until you can't see any flour. Next come the goodies! Raisins, carrots and walnuts are folded in. Be generous, be kind. Don't over fold, just get a nice distribution so you have a little bit of everything in each bite.

The batter is nice and thick, no pouring here. Spoon a large spoonful of batter into each muffin wrapper (about half-way). Bake for 15-20 minutes until firm and golden brown.

Allow to cool slightly before unwrapping, otherwise the paper will stick to the muffin and it gets a little messy. I served these the next day after storing in a tupperware container.

Recipe 
(makes 18-20 muffins)

• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 cup gluten-free flour (oat flour would also work)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners and set aside. Alternatively, grease the muffin pan instead of using liners.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the oats and flour. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk until blended.
4. Stir the oats and flour into the bowl with the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated and you see no more dry ingredients.
5. After using a food processor to chop up the carrots and chopping the walnuts into small pieces, fold into the batter. Don't forget the raisins!
6. Once the carrots, walnuts and raisins are mixed in, spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Fill each cup about 1/2-3/4 of the way.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and firm. 

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

A couple weeks ago, I reintroduced Muffin Monday to the blog and introduced it for the first time to my office here in London. Since then, I've been traveling on the weekends, going to festivals and weddings (which are kind of like festivals, right?) so haven't had an opportunity to make more muffins.

 

 Well, I guess I've learned the acceptable gap in Muffin Mondays because I 100% got called out for talking up Muffin Monday and then only bring muffins 'like one time'. So here are some more muffins! And I'm brainstorming some more...but am traveling again over the weekend so another brief hiatus in the Muffin Monday might occur.

 I wasn't sure how much flour I had left so I looked up oatmeal muffins first. However, the recipe I initially chose required the oats to soak for 8-12 hours and ain't nobody got time for that. I might have time for that in the future but not this time. Fortunately, I had exactly enough flour to complete this recipe! Serendipitous. And no butter measurements required, woohoo!

 Flour, oats, sugar, salt, and baking powder are mixed together in a large bowl. In a measuring cup, whisk together one egg, vegetable oil and milk until smooth. Pour into the large bowl with the flour mixture, stirring until combined  and no flour can be seen. Fold in the blueberries last.

 Fill your prepared muffin tin about 2/3 full in each cup and top with cinnamon-sugar.

Remember how I said I wasn't very functional in the morning? Well, I made these first thing on a Sunday morning and when I got to making the topping, I mixed equal parts cinnamon and sugar. That's a lot of cinnamon. Fortunately, I realized my mistake and added more sugar before topping the muffins. Now I have a bunch of cinnamon-sugar leftover but there are worse things to have.

 Bake for about 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven strength, or until firm. Allow to cool slightly before unwrapping, otherwise the muffin bottoms might stick to the paper. Still delicious, but less graceful to eat.

 Recipe

• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup quick oats
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup oil
• 3/4 cup blueberries
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a muffin tin with paper cups (or grease the pan well) and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, sugar (just the 1/2 cup), salt and baking powder.
3. In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and oil. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients.
4. Mix the batter with a spoon until combined and no flour can be seen.
5. Fold in the blueberries.
6. In a small bowl, mix the 2 Tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir with a small spoon until evenly mixed.
7. Fill the muffin tin about 2/3 full of batter. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mix on top to lightly coat.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden-brown and cooked through.
9. Allow to cool slightly before serving.