Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins on a Caffeine Buzz

So what do you get when you have 4-5 over ripe bananas, one last fresh farm egg that needs to be used, little time or energy after getting the kids a bath, dinner and ready for bed? You get these marvelous muffins! Dense, moist and packed full of flavor. You can taste every bit of the banana, chocolate, and yes, the hint of coffee/espresso. And even better, they were super easy to make!

I just received a highly recommended book in the mail yesterday, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis & Renato Poliafito. I couldn't wait to give a try and was thinking maybe this weekend, but the bananas sent me searching for something quick and easy, but I didn't want just another banana bread. Although their Banana Pecan Piloncillo Ice Cream sounded just wonderful, sorry guys, I don't just have piloncillo sitting around...and what is piloncillo anyway?! Guess I'll have to find out!

OK, enough jabbering, here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS  (yield 12 muffins) ( I made 18)

1 1/2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4 medium) (I used 5)

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp instant espresso powder (NOT ground) (I used 2 tsp of instant coffee)

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli mini chips>

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, milk, and egg.





In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. 

Fill each cup about 3/4 full. (These barely rise) Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean.

Move the muffin pan to a cooling rack, and let cool for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the muffins from the pan and let them finish cooling on the cooling rack.

Muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

Go ahead! Give them a shot. They're great and a wonderful change from the ordinary.

(Note: Bananas that are over ripe, but you are not ready to bake with yet, may be frozen, then thawed when ready for use. So go ahead, save that one or two in your freezer and you may accumulate enough so that when you are ready, you'll have plenty to use!)