Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

I love muffins. No surprise there. I bake enough of them.  I am always up for trying a new recipe if it catches my eye and so it was with the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe that I spied on Simply Recipes the other day. 

I just happened to have some ripe bananas that I wanted to use up and had thought to make a cake or a loaf, but then I saw these muffins and all was lost.  If there is anything I love quite as much as a muffin, it is a muffin containing chocolate chips! 

 

 

They sounded and looked like real muffins, and by that I mean muffins. Not cupcakes disguised as muffins. 

I want a small bake that is dense and moist, not soft and spongy.  Something that you can really sink your teeth into and enjoy along side of a hot drink. Something meant to be enjoyed with a hot drink.

 

No bells. No whistles.  Studded with perhaps a few nuts, or some dried fruit, maybe even fresh fruit, and yes, chocolate chips.

Streusel or no streusel.   Meant to be eaten out of hand. A portable breakfast if need be.  Something not too sweet to be enjoyed mid-morning when you start to feel a bit peckish and want just a little something to carry you over to lunch time.

These muffins are exactly that. Dense and moist. Not too sweet.  Nice and banana flavored and studded with plenty of chocolate chips. I used both milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips and I used full sized, even though the recipe called for mini chocolate chips.

I had no minis and I am not one to quibble about the size of something like a chocolate chip. Banana and chocolate are perfect flavor partners, no matter the size of the chocolate chip and I am all in! 

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

Nothing really out of the ordinary. Do note that the riper the banana the better!

• 1 3/4 cups (245g) plain all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 6 TBS (84g) butter, melted
• 3 TBS canola oil (I use light olive oil)
• 1 large free range egg, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (2 medium) overripe bananas, well mashed, with no lumps (I put mine through a sieve)
• 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips (I use a mix of milk and semi sweet)

 

HINTS AND TIPS FOR MAKING REALLY GOOD MUFFINS

• Read through the recipe several times before beginning and gather your ingredients. I like to have all of my ingredients at room temperature. 
• Always make sure your oven is preheated. This ensures that your muffins bake through and properly in the allotted time. I like to give my oven a good ten minutes to preheat before I start baking.
• Weigh everything and measure accurately. Baking is an exact science. So many people just fudge things together and then wonder why what they bake hasn't turned out, blaming the recipe. Accuracy is everything in baking. I prefer to measure by weight as it is the most precise of all. A gram is always a gram is always a gram.
• Sift your dry ingredients together or at least give them a good whisking. This helps to prevent pockets of baking soda or baking powder. Everything should be mixed together evenly.
• Don't be tempted to add extra baking powder or soda thinking it will give you a higher lift. More often than not it will actually cause them to fall, and it will give them a definite wonky unpalatable taste.
• Even a pinch of salt is better than none. A small amount of salt helps to enhance the flavors of the other ingredients.
• Don't overmix your ingredients. It is okay for muffin batter to be a bit lumpy, in fact it is preferable. What you don't want is large dry streaks. Overmixing causes flat tops, tunnels and your muffins will be tougher.

 

HOW TO MAKE BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

I found the recipe on the original page to be a bit faffy, so I have streamlined it a bit. I thought much of the faffing about to be totally unnecessary and superfluous. In other words a tad pretentious. Sorry!  They do recommend letting the batter sit for an hour prior to baking. I thought this to be quite unusual so I did it.  I don't think it is totally necessary to do so, however. You will still get a very good muffin.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together in bowl. Set aside. Whisk the sugar, melted butter, canola oil and vanilla together in another bowl until well combined. Whisk in the egg, whisking it vigorously until the egg is well amalgamated, when whisk in the mashed banana and buttermilk.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet. Stir together until just combined and no dry bits remain. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover with a clean tea towel and let sit on the counter for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Fill 12 regular sized muffin cups with paper cups. Divide the batter between the muffin cups evenly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4 without opening the door and bake for a further 4 minutes.

Rotate the pan and bake for a further 4 to 6 minutes longer. When done the tops will spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.

Lift out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store any leftover in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.

You can freeze them, tightly covered, for up to three months. Reheat in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

 

This was a really good banana muffin.  It had plenty of banana flavor without them being too banana-y. I liked that. By using a mix of milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips, I added interest to the muffin. Milk chocolate chips by nature tend to be a lot sweeter, and so the semi-sweet chocolate chips helped to cut the sweetness a tiny bit.

I would bake these again. I did not cut the recipe in half because I wanted to give some to my sister to put in her husband's lunch, and having said that, they do freeze very well.  

Some other muffin recipes in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:

TRIPLE BERRY MUFFINS-These moist and delicious muffins are filled with not one, not two, but three different berries. Blueberries, raspberries and diced strawberries. It is also a small batch recipe and makes just 9 delicious muffins.

MORNING GLORY MUFFINS -This is a small batch of one of my favorite muffin recipes. These re moist and filled with the goodness of carrot, apple, coconut, pineapple, toasted nuts and whole and regular wheat flours. The recipe makes 6 largish muffins.

Yield: 12

Author: Marie Rayner

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 17 MinInactive time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 27 M

These are moist and delicious and filled with lots of chocolate chips. The batter for these needs to sit on the counter for an hour prior to baking. You don't have to do this, but they will have more evenly rounded tops if you do.

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups (245g) plain all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
• 6 TBS (84g) butter, melted
• 3 TBS canola oil (I use light olive oil)
• 1 large free range egg, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup (2 medium) overripe bananas, well mashed, with no lumps (I put mine through a sieve)
• 3/4 cup (180ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
• 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips (I use a mix of milk and semi sweet)

Instructions

1. First make the batter. Whisk the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together in bowl. Set aside.
2. Whisk the sugar, melted butter, canola oil and vanilla together in another bowl until well combined. Whisk in the egg, whisking it vigorously until the egg is well amalgamated, when whisk in the mashed banana and buttermilk.
3. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the wet. Stir together until just combined and no dry bits remain. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover with a clean tea towel and let sit on the counter for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Fill 12 regular sized muffin cups with paper cups.
5. Divide the batter between the muffin cups evenly.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 9 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4 without opening the door and bake for a further 4 minutes.
7. Rotate the pan and bake for a further 4 to 6 minutes longer. When done the tops will spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
8. Lift out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store any leftover in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
9. You can freeze them, tightly covered for up to three months. Reheat in the microwave for about 20 seconds.

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