From Scratch to Scrumptious

If you have cocoa powder in your pantry and a couple of ripe bananas, this is a recipe that you can throw together in no time!

Flour: I use all-purpose flour. It’s simple. It’s relatively inexpensive. It’s in my pantry. It’s my go-to flour!

Cocoa powder: While you don’t have to buy extra-fancy cocoa powder, I have noticed that the flavor isn’t as good when I once tried store-brand cocoa powder. I cut financial corners where I can, but since the flavor of your muffins hinges on the cocoa powder, use a decent one at the very least.

Baking powder: This double-action levening agent creates bubbles, causing your muffins to rise both when mixed with liquid, and again when heated up. Unlike baking soda, it doesn’t need an acid (like lemon juice or buttermilk) to work.

Vegetable oil: My fat of choice for muffins is usually vegetable oil. It leads to a moistness that butter just can’t give you. It’s also less expensive than butter, so that’s two points for oil!

Milk: I prefer 2%, but any milk would work fine here.

Vanilla: Vanilla is a must to balance out the decadent chocolate flavor in this recipe. The same amount of cocoa would seem overpowering without the vanilla.

Chocolate chips: I keep a giant bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in my pantry at all times, so that’s what I use in this recipe. Any chocolate chip would be good here, though.

There are a few ways to mash bananas that I’m familiar with. They all work perfectly fine; the end result is the same. Pick the one that works best for you.

Whichever way you choose, I recommend breaking your bananas up into thirds (or more if you want) to give the process a head start.

Manual mashing

Put your banana pieces in a wide bowl and mash them up with a fork or a potato masher. This way would probably be fun for the kids to do, if not a little messy. If you want an extra work out, go for this one.

Bag it up

Put your banana pieces in a gallon-sized baggie. Make sure that it’s sealed tightly! Squeeze those bananas till smooth. When you’re done, cut the corner off of the bottom of the bag and squeeze the bananas out like you’re piping frosting! 

The bag method ensures the smoothest banana puree since no large pieces can fit through your cut hole. Any pieces will have to be squeezed again until they’re small enough to go through. This way is lots of fun for kids, and the mess is contained in the bag. If you make banana muffins frequently, you may find that this gets a bit wasteful for how many bags you go through. However, if this is both a fun activity for the kids and a breakfast, it may be worth it for you!

Mix it up

Put your banana pieces directly into the bowl of your mixer. Set it to medium speed and walk away! Check for remaining pieces of banana before moving on with the rest of the recipe. If you don’t get a thorough mashing, you may end up with chunks of banana in the final muffins.

This has become my favorite mashing method. I can be feeling lazy and still get the work done easily. Plus, I don’t have to keep buying baggies every time I make banana muffins.

Muffins are supposed to be soft and tender. Overworking the batter by stirring too aggressively develops the gluten in the flour, causing muffins to be tough. How can you avoid this culinary no-no? By using the “muffin method”! Quite simple, it’s a gentle mixing of your ingredients. The trick is to mix gently enough not to develop the gluten, but thoroughly enough to get everything mixed together.

To start, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt). I recommend using a whisk instead of a wooden spoon because this can break up any clumps of flour that may be trying to sneak into your delicious muffin. 

Separately mix the wet ingredients thoroughly. I like to beat my egg a bit before adding it to the wet ingredients for any muffins or quick breads so that it mixes in more easily. We don’t want any clumps of egg!

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredient mixture in the well. Gently stir it all together. Stop mixing when there are still small spots of flour. Add in the chocolate chips and gently fold them in, incorporating in the last bits of flour. 

What’s the best way to get that muffin batter into the pan? By now, you probably have your favorite way, but might I suggest to you something new: your ice cream scoop. Do you remember the lunch lady scooping mashed potatoes onto your plate with an ice cream scoop? She was my inspiration! I love using an ice cream scoop with a trigger release to easily divide my batter into muffin cups. Divides evenly and releases easily. Much easier than using a spoon.