Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin

Recently I have this cravings for chocolate. Must be the lack of endorphins from the lack of exercise! Arghhhh! So I thought about baking something with chocolate, something quick, easy and no frills because I was super busy with some family matters.

Initially it was just chocolate chip muffins as I have an opened pack of Valrhona solid baking pearls sitting in the fridge. Then I saw a bunch of over-ripened bananas staring at me from the kitchen counter. Oops, I bought this huge bunch of bananas (small finger variety type) from Malaysia and managed to eat only a few.

So Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins it is! Referred to a few recipes online and found one hosted on Martha Stewart's website to my liking as I have all the ingredients on hand.

Muffins are easy to make, in the sense that it's usually a bunch of dry ingredients, a bunch of wet ingredients, then mix both together. The only tricky bit is not to over-mix the batter, which results in a tough and dry muffin texture.

I think some commercial bakeries add chemicals/cake emulsifiers like Ovalette or Emulco to make muffins/cakes softer and smoother, but this is certainly a no-no for me. Hence the folding technique is important; use a spatula, bring to bottom of mixing bowl, scoop the ingredients and fold gently. Repeat a few times till ingredients are just mixed. It's okay to have specks of flour mixture remaining.

I love how the muffins turned out. It's wholesome comfort food, moist and tender, with intense flavour of dark chocolate and lovely notes of banana. I love baking using Valrhona solid baking pearls because the spherical shapes are mostly retained :) Used to buy them from Shermay's Cooking School, unfortunately it's closed down already. If anyone knows where to get it, please let me know!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
(makes 15 muffins)

Ingredients

• 125g all purpose flour
• 125g wholemeal flour
• 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
• 260g over-ripen bananas (small variety, 11 pcs)
• 150g light brown sugar
• 115g unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 65g fresh milk
• 156g chocolate chips (I use Valrhona solid baking pearls)

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 175C on fan mode. Prepare 15 silicone cupcake cases, or sturdy paper baking cases or well-greased/lined muffin pans.
2. Sift AP flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon into a large mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Mashed the bananas in another large mixing bowl, add light brown sugar, melted butter, egg and fresh milk. Stir till well-blended.
4. Add the wet ingredients (3) into dry ingredients (2), FOLD gently till half incorporated. It's ok to see some flour mixture remaining.
5. Add chocolate baking pearls into batter, FOLD gently till just incorporated. It's ok to see specks flour mixture remaining.
6. Using an ice-cream scoop or spoon, fill batter into prepared cases, about 3/4 full.
7. Bake at 175C on fan mode for 20 mins.
8. Remove from oven and cool the muffins on cooling rack. Best eaten warm.
9. The muffins can be kept in ziplock bags and store in freezer for up to 1 month. To serve, thaw at room temperature for 10-15 mins, then heat in air-fryer or oven at 120C for 5-8 mins.

While I liked the muffins, the kiddo detected the ground cinnamon added and didn't want more after eating only one piece. He hates cinnamon! Personally I enjoy the tinge of cinnamon, I thought it goes really well with bananas and chocolate. Oh well. I guess next time to omit the cinnamon. So I ate some and froze the remaining. Whenever I have cravings, I can have one or two without the hassle of baking from scratch (that is until my supply runs out!).