Who wants chocolate for dinner? MEEEEE!! While clearly a serious departure from my usual slant toward healthy, protein packed and lean... the only thing I can say about this is, it's LOADED with bananas and seriously chocolatey!
When is bananas and chocolate EVER a bad thing? It was another night that I found myself with an abundance of over ripe, brown bananas, so, I had to think fast... and this is what I came up with!
Double chocolate banana bread, and muffins, thanks to all these bananas! I'll take it! The only tricky ingredient that was not usually in my pantry was cocoa, so I substituted this Starbuck's brand of "Hot Cocoa".
I don't know if it's gonna work, but the ingredient on the label was mostly cocoa (and it's been in my cabinet forever... so, time to experiment)... AND, it was unsweetened, so I trusted my instincts.
So there we have all the players in tonight's chocolate banana experiment: 3 bananas, half cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup cocoa, and about 1 cup of chocolate chips. You may have noticed, I DOUBLED the ingredients, because I plan on spreading a lot of chocolate banana LOVE to everyone I see tomorrow. If you follow the amounts given, you'll have about 12 muffins, or one large loaf of bread. I doubled, so I had both!
Starting with the bananas, I peeled and mashed with my old school potato masher.
Then, I melted the butter in the microwave and whisked it into the bananas. Then, I added the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla and whisked that in as well.
After mixing all the wet ingredients, I measured out all the dry ingredients and then poured into a sifter (I used a plain old strainer as my sifter).
I just want to make sure to break up any chunks of cocoa. I usually skip this sifting step, but tonight, I followed the rules (for a change... good girl, Gremlin Mom!!).
After adding the wet to the dry ingredients, I mixed just to combine, then I added the chocolate chips and gave it another gentle mix, just to combine! Like I said, I doubled this recipe, so I made 1 loaf...
and 1 batch (dozen) of muffins!
I sprayed my loaf pan with nonstick spray and poured in half the batter. Then, I lined my muffin pan, and spooned the rest into all those little muffin cups! Now, that would be fine... but, I sprinkled the tops of my muffins and bread with a little kosher sea salt (optional). I baked these muffins for 20 minutes then checked with a toothpick (insert, pull out, if clean, then they are done). After 20 minutes, I popped back in for 5 more, and they were perfect. The bread will take 55-65 minutes.
You can leave yours plain, or... top them with some crazy, creamy peanut butter frosting, more chocolate, or even fresh whipped cream!!! Whatever you choose, you will LOVE these! So, go make some banana chocolate LOVE... for someone special, and they will LOVE you back, I guarantee!!!
When is bananas and chocolate EVER a bad thing? It was another night that I found myself with an abundance of over ripe, brown bananas, so, I had to think fast... and this is what I came up with!
Double chocolate banana bread, and muffins, thanks to all these bananas! I'll take it! The only tricky ingredient that was not usually in my pantry was cocoa, so I substituted this Starbuck's brand of "Hot Cocoa".
I don't know if it's gonna work, but the ingredient on the label was mostly cocoa (and it's been in my cabinet forever... so, time to experiment)... AND, it was unsweetened, so I trusted my instincts.
So there we have all the players in tonight's chocolate banana experiment: 3 bananas, half cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 cup cocoa, and about 1 cup of chocolate chips. You may have noticed, I DOUBLED the ingredients, because I plan on spreading a lot of chocolate banana LOVE to everyone I see tomorrow. If you follow the amounts given, you'll have about 12 muffins, or one large loaf of bread. I doubled, so I had both!
Starting with the bananas, I peeled and mashed with my old school potato masher.
Then, I melted the butter in the microwave and whisked it into the bananas. Then, I added the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla and whisked that in as well.
After mixing all the wet ingredients, I measured out all the dry ingredients and then poured into a sifter (I used a plain old strainer as my sifter).
I just want to make sure to break up any chunks of cocoa. I usually skip this sifting step, but tonight, I followed the rules (for a change... good girl, Gremlin Mom!!).
After adding the wet to the dry ingredients, I mixed just to combine, then I added the chocolate chips and gave it another gentle mix, just to combine! Like I said, I doubled this recipe, so I made 1 loaf...
and 1 batch (dozen) of muffins!
I sprayed my loaf pan with nonstick spray and poured in half the batter. Then, I lined my muffin pan, and spooned the rest into all those little muffin cups! Now, that would be fine... but, I sprinkled the tops of my muffins and bread with a little kosher sea salt (optional). I baked these muffins for 20 minutes then checked with a toothpick (insert, pull out, if clean, then they are done). After 20 minutes, I popped back in for 5 more, and they were perfect. The bread will take 55-65 minutes.
You can leave yours plain, or... top them with some crazy, creamy peanut butter frosting, more chocolate, or even fresh whipped cream!!! Whatever you choose, you will LOVE these! So, go make some banana chocolate LOVE... for someone special, and they will LOVE you back, I guarantee!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment