Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Baking with M, Week 1
“Mommy, can we bake today?” my 5 year-old daughter asked me three Sundays ago.
I love to bake, but it wasn’t first on my list in 100+ degree Texas heat, despite the fact that it’s really too hot to do anything outside.
“What do you want to bake?” I asked.
“Let’s ask Daddy what he wants!” she said.
He suggested something using the slightly too-ripe bananas, chocolate chips, and peanut butter, if possible.
“Muffins!” she yelled.
She decided banana chocolate chip muffins were the answer. The consumer can add peanut butter, she said. (she’s in a weird anti-peanut butter phase at the moment). We made a plan to bake while her little sister was napping.
And so we did. She ran over to the living room with the mixing bowl every few ingredients to show her dad the progress with the batter. I mostly measured; she mostly mixed.
The great thing about muffin recipes and baking with kids is that you can mostly mix by hand, rather than use “heavy equipment”, like a mixer.
The muffins were delicious.
“Mommy… can we bake something every weekend?” she said.
Yes, yes we can.
Here is the recipe we used. I’m pretty sure this is an adaptation from an old Betty Crocker recipe, but it’s been written on a badly stained sheet of notebook paper in my recipe box and used for years.
Enjoy!
Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
This is my go-to recipe for banana muffins or banana bread. For banana bread, split the batter between two 9x5 loaf pans and increase baking time to ~30-35 minutes, or until the top is set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Ingredients
Dry
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips
Wet
- 1 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup buttermilk*
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottoms of 18 muffin tins or line with baking cups.
-
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until blended. Add eggs and beat until incorporated. Add the bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla and mix.
-
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just blended. Fold in chocolate chips.
-
Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake 18-22 minutes, or until muffin tops are set/firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out just clean.
Recipe Notes
* If you're like me and never want to buy buttermilk because 75% of it goes to waste, substitute 1/2 cup plain regular yogurt, or "make" buttermilk by mixing 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 tbsp of white vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.