I still haven’t gotten over my muffins for breakfast mood… So last week I decided to use up the overly ripe bananas on the counter to make some banana muffins. When I started mixing up the batter, I intended to make my standard whole wheat banana bread based on a recipe from my mom. But, the more I thought about it, I started throwing ingredients in. I had some good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips left over from my croquembouche which I thought would be a nice addition. Then I thought, “why not add some chocolatey goodness to the batter?” and added in some dark cocoa powder, as well. I’ve been on a bit of a walnut kick lately, too, and I had a giant bag in the pantry, so I threw in some chopped walnuts, too!
By the time I was finished, I had some pretty rich and decadent muffins on my hands… I almost feel guilty calling them muffins since they were more like cupcakes! They definitely aren’t the healthiest muffins I’ve ever made, but to my credit, I did make them with 100% whole wheat flour. Have I redeemed myself?
Because the muffins were so rich, I intended to make regular-sized muffins. However, I forgot that I had a bit of a cupcake mishap a few weeks ago that resulted in the demise of my muffin pan. I somehow lived without the pan for a few weeks and totally forgot to replace it. So instead of well-portioned small muffins, I ended up making jumbo double chocolate muffins (major fail, I know). I also put some of the batter into little heart shaped baking pans to make a few little muffin cakes. I ended up with 6 large muffins and 3 heart-shaped cakes. I believe this recipe would make enough batter for one 9×5-inch loaf of bread or about 12 regular sized muffins.
Double Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 bananas)
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup hot water
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 60% cacao)
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a bread pan or a muffin pan and set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the canola oil, sugar, and mashed bananas. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, alternating with the hot water and making sure to start and end with the dry ingredients. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
Transfer the batter to the bread pan or spoon the batter into the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The jumbo muffins baked for about 25 minutes. I would start with 15 minutes for regular muffins and about 50 minutes for a loaf pan.
Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long… I couldn’t). Enjoy!
Those look too sinful to be muffins – I wish I had those for breakfast!
These look fantastic! Really loving the heart shaped muffins – what a cute idea.
Yes, whole wheat flour totally negates any “extras” in the batter. And chocolate chips are ALWAYS a good idea in my book! Wishing I had one for breakfast this morning!
OK, I finally had to break down and visit your blog! I’ve stayed away for a while b/c I was being childish since when I started mine, I searched for “My Kitchen Addiction” and found out that someone had already dared to claim that name! haha–obviously I wasn’t really mad at you but that must be the reason I didn’t return until now. I see your comments on blogs I frequent and finally gave in to the temptation to actually check you out when I saw you in the Brown Eyed Baker’s blogroll. These muffins sound so good! I was thinking aobut making a chocolate banana muffin myself b/c I’ve been making a lot of banana things lately but I’m also trying to lose weight so I think I’d have to make it less tasty by scaling back on some of the good stuff. Then again, banana and chocolate together couldn’t really be NOT tasty. But less chocolate chips, nuts and naturally sweetened would prob not be as good. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Super cute muffins. Great for a breakfast treat, snack, or even dessert:)
i love muffin tops…these sound so decadent!
Yes, when the student is ready, the teacher arrives. Just happen to have some very ripe bananas sitting in a basket on my counter. Today I am going to try to delicious looking muffins. Thanks for this post Jen!
My husband would LOVE these. He loves banana bread and anything chocolate-y!
I love the addition of the chocolate chips in the batter! I’m going to have to make these…like immediately. Yum!
They do look decadent, but I’m insisting on calling them muffins! And I’m out of muffins for my freezer so guess what I’m making next?
Yep, whole wheat flour totally makes them healthy! I fall squarely in that belief camp :) I always feel a bit guilty when I eat chocolate muffins for breakfast, but I do it anyway, and these sound yummy!
These look incredible. Congrats on making Foodbuzz Top 9 again!
Oh my god!
Thank you for the inspiration–I did end up making some double chocolate banana muffins but a healthier version. I don’t think I would have thought of it without seeing this and the mouth-watering pics! You’re an evil genius. ;)
Sounds great, I’m heading to the kitchen now to make them for my son whom I am meeting for Breakfast, I’ll let him take the 6 home and I’ll keep the rest. I am sure his family will love them. Liz