Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These are the most delicious light and airy banana muffins.  Don't skip out on the mini chips or the sour cream.  Both of these totally make the muffin.  You can easily swap out the olive oil for another light oil as well as the sour cream for greek yogurt or a non dairy option if necessary.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips plus extra for topping

4 very ripe bananas, mashed 

1/4 cup olive oil (you can also use avocado or vegetable oil)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation:

Prepare 18 muffin cups with parchment baking cups.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl mash the bananas,  Next add in olive oil, eggs, vanilla and sour cream to the mashed bananas and mix until combined.  In the same bowl add the flour (I like to sift mine), sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix all the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.  Now add your chocolate chips and stir again to incorporate the chocolate throughout the batter.

Fill muffin liners all the way to the top with your batter and sprinkle on extra mini chocolate chips on the top of each filled cup.  Bake at 425 degrees for 7-8 minutes and then lower the oven to 350 degrees F and bake for another 7-8 minutes.  The tops of the muffins should be light golden brown and domed on top.

Applesauce Cinnamon Mini Muffins with Cracker Crumb Topping

I'm always trying to think of different ways to use staples that I always have in my house to create recipes.  the classic salty and sweet combination is always a winner so why not use salty, buttery crackers as an ingredient in a crumb topping?  I had to actually change many things in this receipe to suit the ingredients I had on hand.  I made these muffins over a year ago but never got around to posting it so I decided to make it again and take new pictures.  The original recipe called for butter, yogurt and graham crackers so naturally I subbed in oil, sour cream and Club crackers.  I added more sugar to the crumb topping to cut the savory aspect of the crackers a bit and these little muffins were soooooo delicious.  Much better than the original recipe.  They were literally gone in minutes.  I guess I need to double the recipe next time :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2  cup applesauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 cups crackers, crushed into find crumbs. 
(You can use any delicate salted crackers such as Club or Ritz crackers)
1/4 cup brown sugar


Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl beat together sugar, eggs and oil.   Add applesauce, sour cream and vanilla to the egg mixture and combine well.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.  Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time until fully combined.

For the crumb topping.  Add crushed crackers, brown sugar and melted butter to a bowl and combine until all the crackers are moist and the mixture resembles a crumb topping.  

Spoon muffin batter by a heaping tablespoonful into a greased mini muffin tin and then top with a generous teaspoon full of cracker crumbs.  Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Cool before removing from muffin tins.

French Toast Casserole Muffins

It's a super chilly spring morning today and I wanted to make something quick and easy for breakfast that the kids can grab and go to my son's soccer game.  These little muffins are super moist, sweet and yummy and they are just as good without syrup as they are with.  What a perfect breakfast treat.  I'm packing up a bunch of these to take to the game for any other parents who would like a sweet bite with their coffee as we freeze together on the soccer field.

Ingredients:

12 small rolls like hamburger rolls or 18 slices of bread torn into small pieces

9 eggs

3 tablespoons brown sugar (plus a little extra for sprinkling)

3 tablespoons white sugar

1 1/4 cup of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 tablespoons cinnamon

pinch of salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 2 muffin tins (24 muffins in all) generously with non-stick cooking spray.  In a large bowl beat the eggs until fluffy.  Add the sugars, milk, vanilla, cinnamon and salt and mix together until well combined.  Add the torn bread pieces into the egg mixture and stir until coated well.  Let the mixture stand so the bread can soak up all the egg mixture, about 3 minutes.   Spoon french toast mixture into greased muffin tins filling each cup up at least 1/2 full up to 3/4 full.   Sprinkle the tops of each muffin with some brown sugar.  Bake muffins for 25 minutes until golden brown.  Drizzle with maple syrup and serve hot.

**This is not a like a cake muffin but rather like a super moist french toast casserole in muffin form.

Peanut Butter- Banana Mini Muffins with Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon

Let's call these Elvis Muffins!! I don't know why, but you can ask Nanci.....I've been wanting to make a muffin with peanut butter, banana and bacon and finally I came up with these.  I think they are really yummy and a great balance of sweet and savory....all wrapped up in a bite sized treat.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Brown Sugar Bacon

6 slices of bacon, cooked and broken into bite sized pieces

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Combine bananas, sugar, egg and butter and peanut butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined mini muffin cups three-fourths full.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Put bacon pieces in a small frying pan and sprinkle with brown sugar, heat on med/hi and constantly toss the bacon and the sugar together until the sugar is melted and the bacon looks shiny.  Remove to a greased surface or parchment paper to cool in a single layer.  Once cooled place a tiny dot of peanut butter on top of each mini muffin and then place a piece of sugared bacon on top.  Enjoy!

Linked to Sweets for Saturday

Mini Pumpkin Muffins

Now this is an EASY recipe and they are delicious!

Ingredients:

1 box of yellow cake mix

1 small can of pure pumkin puree (14 oz)

3 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

sunflower seeds (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease mini muffin tins (or line with paper liners). Mix the first 4 ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Spoon mixture into greased mini muffin tins and *optional: sprinkle the tops with sunflower seeds.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until muffins are firm to the touch.  Cool muffins before removing from the tins.

Linked up to Cooking Cowgirl Pumpkin Blog Hop

Banana Crunch Cupcakes

I wanted to make banana crumble cupcakes but I didn't feel like going to the trouble to make a crumble mixture so I used some crushed up Frosted Flakes instead. 

I got the same sweet crunch with a lot less hassle.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
TOPPING:
1 cup crushed Frosted Flakes cereal

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. Combine bananas, sugar, egg and butter; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Crush Frosted Flakes and sprinkle over muffins. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

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