Chocolate Banana Muffins

The making of Chocolate Banana Muffins

Even good cooks make mistakes.  Sometimes it’s a good mistake and teaches you something.  Like it did for me today.

Although I was having a super busy day, while wiping down the kitchen I spied those really really ripe bananas sitting on the counter.  UGH, they were going to be over the top soon, so in the middle of everything, I decided to make some Chocolate Banana Muffins.

My son has a lot of friends staying over since school is out, and they enjoy something tasty in the morning (who am I kidding, by the time they get moving about, it’s more like 1:00 in the afternoon).  I bring up my recipe for Chocolate Banana Muffins on my computer and start assembling the ingredients; flour, baking powder, you know, the panty stuff.  Then the stuff out of the refrigerator; eggs, milk, and then fire up the oven.

Sift, smash, mix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and I pop them into the oven.

Where’s the oil?

Just as I’m just beginning to clean up I realize, I didn’t add the oil.  That’s because the oil was already out on the counter, so I didn’t put it where the other ingredients were making it was outside of my mis en place. 

Making it misplaced.

Crap.

I quickly grab the muffin tin out of the oven and scrape the batter out of the paper muffin cups.

Back into the bowl.

All except one.

I decided to see just how much difference the oil would make after all my work (and mess) of scraping and reworking the batter.  You know what?  It made very little difference at all.  Both were moist; although the ones with the oil were a little lighter in texture, I don’t think you would really notice if you weren’t doing a side by side comparison.

So the bottom line is; if you want to cut back on oil and calories, omit the oil in this recipe.

They are still good.

LindySez – There’s always something to learn.  It’s why I love to cook.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened chocolate
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana, (about 3)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup oil (I like extra virgin olive oil or grape seed oil)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (use the real stuff, not the imitation stuff)
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Confectioners sugar, (optional)

Method

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400º F. Line a standard 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Step 2

Sift the first 4 ingredients into a medium bowl. Add the wheat germ and unsweetened chocolate. Combine the mashed bananas, milk, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large bowl; whisk to blend. Add the dry ingredients along with the chocolate chips; mix well. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full with prepared batter. Bake until a tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Dust with confectioners sugar, if desired.