Found some overly ripe bananas lying around so decided to seize the opportunity and do something about it. Inspired by Nigella’s banana chocolate muffin recipe, I decided to put to good use my Ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa I purchased from Ghiradelli Square last year in San Francisco and whip out my pretty blue and white striped muffin paper cups for display. Despite Nigella’s recipe says the batter can make 12 muffins, I guess I was too overly generous with my serving sizes since I only ended up with 5 muffins (albeit steroid-sized). I handed out my muffins to my friends the next day and the feedback was that they all thought it was delicious and super moist, not too oily or sweet.The beauty of this recipe is that it is very straightforward and pretty fail-safe. In less than thirty minutes, you will end up with super moist muffins bursting with the goodness of banana and paired with the richness of premium cocoa.
INGREDIENTS: (makes 12 small or 5 gigantic muffins)
- 3 very ripe or overripe bananas
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 1 ¼ to 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons best-quality unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli), sifted
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch salt, optional (I skipped)
- Icing sugar, to dust (optional)
METHOD:
1) Preheat the oven to 400˚ F / 200˚C and line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Show no mercy and mash the bananas.
2) Beat in the oil with a whisk, followed by the eggs and sugar.
3) In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add this mixture to the banana mixture and stir gently until combined. Spoon into the muffin cups.
4) Bake for 15-20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark, rounded and peeking proudly out of their cups. Let cool slightly in the pan before removing to a wire rack.
5) Once cooled, dust with icing sugar.
