Sweet, moist, delicious in all ways...
but I can't take credit for them.
No, this recipe is a conglomeration of all my mother's stolen baking knowledge,
which she has in turn passed along to me.
And now, I shall pass it on to you.
Here it is, folks.
The recipe for the best Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins you will ever eat!
Start by making traditional banana bread.
Really not that hard.
You'll need about 3 average sized bananas for each batch you make.
Pretty basic stuff there- bananas to make banana bread...
But there's a secret to it, a trick that makes these muffins so much better than traditional means.
The key is to freeze your bananas.
You have to freeze them just at the right moment in their life though...
when they start to get those little brown freckles all over.
Stick them in a Ziploc bag, pop them in the freezer, and wait until the time comes to make your muffins.
They'll be all brown and gross-looking by the time you need to use them, but don't worry about that.
The freezing actually intensifies the sweetness.
It's definitely a difficult part of the recipe though, as I'll explain later.
Here are the rest of the ingredients for a single batch of muffins:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
2 cups unsifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour or buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mashed bananas (approximately 3, as stated above)
2 cups chocolate chips
First, cream the sugar, and shortening together, adding the eggs one at a time.
The tip here is to put the eggs out early so they're room temperature, then beat them a little with a fork before adding them one at a time to the mixture.
Next, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder together and add that to the creamed mixture.
Separately, put the baking soda in the buttermilk (buttermilk is better, but if you don't have access to it, you can make sour milk by adding 1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar and enough milk to make half a cup and let stand for 5 minutes; apparently you can use plain yogurt as a substitute as well).
Now comes the fun part: mashing the bananas. You have to thaw your frozen bananas first, and they get pretty mushy and slimy after thawing out, which can either be very very fun for you, or a nightmare. They should slide right out of the peel, but sometimes you have to give them a little... push with your thumbs. Only a little gross, but worth the effort considering what you're making here. Mash them until they're nice and smooth, or slightly lumpy depending on your preference for muffin texture.
Add the vanilla to the mashed bananas, mix, then add to the creamed mixture.
Mix in the chocolate chips a little at a time, then pour a heaping spoonful into each of your lined muffin tins.
You'll want to fill them about a third of the way, but no more than that, as they will rise quite a bit.
Bake them at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes (sometimes I leave them in for a couple minutes longer, but if you want softer, creamier muffins, 15 minutes is a good time), and keep an eye on them. They're done if they're a little golden brown on top.
Let them cool a little on a rack and eat them warm with a nice tall glass of cold milk (or what have you).
This recipe usually makes anywhere from 24 to 30 muffins, depending on how big or small you make them.
You can also add either more chocolate chips, or more bananas to change the flavor and texture of your muffins.
More chocolate chips means richer, sweeter muffins,
and more bananas means moister, fruitier muffins.
Banana Flavor: 8
Banana Accuracy: 10
Banana Texture: 6
Overall Ranking: 9 (Sweet and good for you, this is a snack or dessert that's perfect for any occasion, any meal, breakfast, lunch, dinner, you name it! The texture the bananas bring to the muffins in combination with the sweet chocolate chips makes it the ideal nomming experience.)
Enjoy!
<3,
Emily J Sampson
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