April 11, 2011

Chocolate Banana Muffins

I have a huge sweet tooth. To me, a meal isn’t complete if it’s not capped off with something sweet. But at the same time, I rarely buy candy or packaged sugary goods at the grocery store. Mostly because I know they’ll all be eaten. And quickly. By avoiding purchasing treats, I have to make them from scratch (which would make the average person less likely to eat treats. Not me, though). Muffins have become my solution to post-meal dessert cravings. When there’s nothing sweet in the house and I haven’t prepared anything to be made, I can always turn to muffins. They rarely require prep-work and tend to dirty only one mixing bowl. They can be thrown together in the amount of time it takes the oven to preheat. And what could be better than that when you’re craving something sweet, and now?

Recipe Rundown
Taste: Rich with chocolate and sweetened with banana. The banana flavor intensifies the longer these muffins sit out.
Texture: Oh so moist and studded with melting chocolate chips. You’d never know the recipe was made with applesauce or whole wheat flour.
Ease: Muffin recipes are my favorite for a tasty, homemade treat because they are so simple and quick to make.
Appearance: My muffins would have looked better in darker baking cups but white was all I had. I still adore the rich chocolate color.
Pros: Quick, easy, tasty, and relatively guilt-free.
Cons: None.
Would I make this again? Absolutely.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Makes a dozen muffins

Adapted from Hot Polka Dot

3 large bananas
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup white whole-wheat flour (or whole wheat pastry flour or whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and position a rack in the center. Line a muffin tin with baking cups and set it aside.

In a large bowl mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher then mix in the sugar, egg and applesauce. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and baking powder over the banana mixture. Mix lightly with a rubber spatula to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. The batter should be just moistened but still a little clumpy. Don’t overmix!

Using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or spoons, divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake them for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Transfer them to a rack to cool. Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

healthy, muffin, recipe, whole wheat

38 comments »

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Lauren — April 11, 2011 at 1:18 pm

Oh, I am the exact same way when it comes to sweets. I love 'em, but much prefer homemade goodies to store-bought. These muffins are right up my alley, given the inclusion of whole wheat flour and applesauce. As soon as the bananas on my countertop ripen, these muffins will be made!
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chocomojo — April 11, 2011 at 1:29 pm

This sounds so good. I'll be trying it very soon.
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Caroline — April 11, 2011 at 4:37 pm

Yum! Two of my favorite things: chocolate and bananas. I love that they are made with ww flour too!
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Tracey — April 11, 2011 at 7:40 pm

I love chocolate and bananas together, these sound amazing!
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stephchows — April 11, 2011 at 7:56 pm

oh I am such a healthy muffin fan! I'm making these as soon as I have some ripe bananas around!
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Joanna — April 11, 2011 at 8:31 pm
all I wanna do is cook these muffins! But as I'm living in Queensland our bananas are $12/kg due to the cyclone and flooding we had earlier this year. I don't know how long I will have to wait :'(
- Tessa replied: — April 12th, 2011 @ 6:08 pm
  
  Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that. I have a lot of family living in Australia, luckily nowhere near the floods or cyclone.
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Maris — April 11, 2011 at 11:26 pm

What a great combination-I love a chocolate covered banana so I am quite sure I would love these!
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Maria — April 12, 2011 at 1:12 am

Yum, yum, and yum!
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Emily — April 12, 2011 at 2:00 am

I feel the same way! Must always have a little something sweet after I eat a meal!
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Hot Polka Dot — April 12, 2011 at 2:58 am

Love your adaptation! So glad you enjoyed my muffins! I have a huge muffin addiction and I agree they totally satisfy that craving without all the sugar of a regular dessert.
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vivienne — April 12, 2011 at 3:05 am

it looks so moist and rich in chocolate! def my goto muffin when im craving for something sweet too! i dont store any candy in my pantry (for my own good) so like you, i tend to whip up something from scratch coz its healthier! now i just need to make some applesauce to make this!
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tara.socofood — April 13, 2011 at 10:36 pm
I actually made these yesterday and they came out great!! Thank you for posting this recipe. They taste as good as they look without the guilt

However, with a few alterations… I added a few things to make this treat a little more guilt free– 1/4 cup oat bran and flax seed mixture, 2 teaspoons cinnamon (brings out the chocolate more), 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon nutmeg.
- handleheat replied: — May 5th, 2011 @ 9:28 pm
  
  I love the addition of flax seed, will have to try that next time.
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kaylee — April 14, 2011 at 2:31 am
i love this, made them yesterday but i switched out half of the flour for whole grain, so each of the 15 muffins only has around 180 calories, but still uber tasty. my room-mates, who are typical french fires and captin crunch college students, can't get enough of them!
- handleheat replied: — May 5th, 2011 @ 9:28 pm
  
  Nice! Glad your roommates liked them
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Maddie — April 20, 2011 at 1:20 am
Just made these and they were so amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
- handleheat replied: — May 5th, 2011 @ 9:27 pm
  
  Yay! Glad you liked them
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Melissa L. — May 5, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Could I make these with just an egg white and not the whole egg?
- handleheat replied: — May 5th, 2011 @ 9:27 pm
  
  Hi Melissa! I would not recommend substituting an egg white for the yolk. The texture of the muffins would be completely different.
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emily — June 5, 2011 at 7:36 pm

i made these today. super delicious. oh. my. gosh. thank you!
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Carlyn — June 22, 2011 at 9:40 pm

These were really tasty. You mentioned these were more like a dessert, so I drastically reduced the sweetness since I was going to have these for breakfast and am used to normally sweet baked goods. I used 1/3 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 and only used 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips. I used all whole wheat flour and added a tsp of vanilla. They were plenty sweet because of the bananas and my parents loved them! Thanks.
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ringr — October 6, 2011 at 1:37 am

These are so tasty – I enjoyed one tasty and warm outta the oven and the rest are heading into school to share with out community during a Leadership Night for our families… thanks!!
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Sabina — November 4, 2011 at 2:01 pm

Very Yummy indeed! I made them with a few alteration–oat flour and ww flour, dash of vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and omitted the chocolate chips. Thank you
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alison — December 3, 2011 at 8:32 am

Thanks for a great healthy low fat recipe
Low Fat, Easy weight loss tips
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Jodie — February 10, 2012 at 8:15 pm

These recipe makes a delicious muffin. They were a hit with the teachers. Thank you so much for sharing.
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pixie — March 4, 2012 at 8:01 pm

can i use reg all purpose flour? i dont have whole wheat flour on hand.
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Olivia — May 18, 2012 at 10:22 pm

These muffins turned out to be super delicious, and you don't miss the butter at all! I thought I had made too much batter for only 12 muffins, so I made about 18, but they look like cupcakes instead of muffins (they don't have that awesome muffin-top look) so don't be scared to really fill up the cups.
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Erika — July 30, 2012 at 10:38 am

I had a ton of extra bananas and was looking for something to do with them (without having to go to the grocery store!). I’m so happy I found this recipe. I made a double batch These are excellent. I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
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Mary Themom — September 8, 2012 at 5:17 pm

I make a version of this, but add dried cherries that I’ve boiled to plump a little, and call it chocolate chip cherry bread (I have a child who “hates” bananas so I don’t tell her it’s banana bread!). I’ve also found that Allspice really helps bring out the chocolate flavor. http://marythemom-mayhem.blogspot.com/2010/12/healthy-chocolate-chip-cherry-bread.html My kids LOVE them.

Mary
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Lu — October 21, 2012 at 11:26 am

I love this recipe so much that I shared it with the readers on my blog!! It really the only way I’m able to eat bananas!
http://crochetedlittlethings.blogspot.com/2012/10/im-going-banana.html
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Eunah Hunter — December 11, 2012 at 9:00 am

It’s very tasty. And rich. I didn’t have apple sauce so I used the peach jam my husband made this summer. I also put in oats. So rich, I can’t believe there’s no butter or oil!
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Kim — December 18, 2012 at 1:10 pm
Hello there! These look really delicious and I want to try to make them for a class party tomorrow. But I don’t have whole wheat flour so I was wondering if I could replace it with all-purpose flour… Would that drastically change the muffin?
- Tessa replied: — December 18th, 2012 @ 10:16 pm
  
  Certainly – the whole wheat flour is only used to enhance the nutrition of these muffins they will taste just fine with only all-purpose flour.
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Tieghan — March 31, 2013 at 1:31 pm

Oh these look so good!
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Wendy — April 3, 2013 at 9:20 pm

I made these, ate a couple, then froze the rest. Whenever I had a chocolate craving, I pop one in the microwave and get a warm gooey chocolate chip banana muffin once again! This works great for me because my husband won’t touch anything with banana in it.
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Daisy Brekke — April 20, 2013 at 11:55 pm

Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between “bananas” and “plantains”. Especially in the Americas and Europe, “banana” usually refers to soft, sweet, dessert bananas, particularly those of the Cavendish group, which are the main exports from banana-growing countries. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called “plantains”. In other regions, such as Southeast Asia, many more kinds of banana are grown and eaten, so the simple two-fold distinction is not useful and is not made in local languages.^

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