Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I used to only grudgingly eat bananas when my dad told me I needed to eat them before playing soccer.  Something about being told to do it made this otherwise delicious fruit not taste good.  Now that I decide for myself what to eat, I love bananas.  Sometimes I buy too many though (as many of you may have done as well), and they start to get brown and soft.  Even though they aren't so perfect anymore for peeling and eating, they are perfect for baking. I found this recipe in its original form in Food & Wine.  Like I do, I changed out the white flour for whole grain and the sugar for honey.  The only things you need to change when making this substitution are to lower your oven temp a little and use about 25% less honey since it's sweeter than sugar.  The honey caramelizes more than sugar so the final product will be darker in color but not at all burnt so don't worry.  I also used dark chocolate because I like how the delicate bitterness tones down the sweetness of the rest of the ingredients. 

Makes 36 muffins:
2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 6)
1 cup honey
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (10 oz or almost a full bag)

Mix the dry ingredients (besides the chocolate) in a bowl and set aside.

Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl until smooth.

 Mix in the butter, honey, and eggs.

 Then slowly add the dry mix until smooth.  You may need to scrape down the sides from time to time.

Add the chocolate chips and hand mix until thoroughly incorporated.  

Fill your muffin cups almost to the top since these don't rise much.

 Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Josh and I both have a bad habit of eating these before they're cooled properly.  We have the burns to prove it.  It's just so hard to resist chocolate chips all melty and fresh out of the oven!

Josh loves these muffins for breakfast.  This particular batch only lasted 3 days just between the two of us because he took about half of them out to a multi-day field job and barely ate anything else.  I can't really blame him.  All the guys at the site ever buy for the crews is pizza and fried crap.  Even still, these muffins are amazing and if he hadn't taken them away, I would have scarfed them up for myself.  It's dog-eat-dog in our house with my cooking.  If it's yummy, you'd better eat it before someone else does.  Maybe that's why we can't seem to lose weight...oh well.  I don't make the muffins every day so they're a nice treat.  They're whole grain and use honey and bananas instead of sugar so there are way worse things you could snack on.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

Since picking fresh blueberries last week, Josh has requested in no uncertain terms that I keep these muffins constantly in stock.  I make them frequently anyway with frozen berries but fresh ones just make them irresistible. My husband, who has two degrees mind you, then complains about burning his mouth because he can't even let the poor muffins cool.  I can't really blame him though.  When the smell of fresh baked blueberry muffins fills your house, all self-control is lost.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

1 egg
1 c plain, nonfat yogurt
1/4 c oil or softened margarine
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
1 cup quick oatmeal
1/2 c agave nectar or honey
1/4 c brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 c fresh blueberries (or thawed and drained if previously frozen)

Combine everything BUT the blueberries.

Then gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups.  The batter doesn't rise much so fill them to the top.

Cook for 20-25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and slightly crisp.

Unlike frozen ones, fresh blueberries burst a bit in the muffins.  That just means there's too much delicious for the muffin to hold, nothing to worry about.

Bran Muffins

My mom has been making these since I can remember.  I loved them as a kid and I'm so glad my husband loves them now because they're really easy to make and are great for a quick breakfast.  My mom and I have collaborated recently to make the muffins a little healthier by reducing the sugar and substituting whole wheat flour.   

1/2 c agave nectar
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c oil
2 eggs
2 1/2 c whole wheat flour
2 c fat-free buttermilk
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In another bowl:
Pour 1 cup boiling water onto 3 cups All Bran cereal

Mix first set of ingredients well.  Mix in moistened bran cereal until incorporated.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes.

I love these silicone baking cups.  Just spray a little oil in them before filling and you get perfect muffins every time without the paper mess.  No cleaning messy muffin tine either. Yay!