Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are moist exploding with chocolate chips! They are simple to make and without milk or butter (use dairy free chocolate chips and they will be completely dairy free!).
Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are bursting with flavor. They keep and freeze well. Everyone will love them, so you will definitely want to keep them around!!
Want to try more baked goods with banana? You won’t be sorry!
A little of my cooking background
I really wanted to title this blog “If I can make it, anyone can”, because – honestly – if I can make it, anyone can.
I never really liked cooking and when I was single, a meal for me meant grilled cheese, eggs, tuna, or something else that didn’t require effort or time.
When my kids were young, I was still able to get away with preparing only a small variety of easy meals, but the older they got, the more dishes I learned to make at their request.
Still, I insisted on keeping it simple.
Honestly, I never understood why some cooks unnecessarily complicate meals. I have seen recipes that have several ingredients that don’t really seem to add much, if anything, to the dish. So, why bother?
It has always been important to me that whoever eats at my table will have plenty to enjoy and that includes my kids (I never agreed with the “You will eat what is served or you won’t eat” ideology) and, because I keep it simple, I can prepare a variety of dishes in a relatively short period of time.
I have a philosophy regarding being a great cook: Prepare food according to the tastes of those who will be eating it and they will love your cooking!
As far as I am concerned, start with the basic ingredients that make the dish what it is, adapt according to taste, and voila! you are an amazing cook!
The bottom line is that while there are certainly delicate recipes out there for specialty dishes, making delicious meals doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. It’s not difficult to impress – just make sure it tastes good.
While some of the recipes on my blog are more time-consuming than others, they are all tried and true easy-shmeezy!
Of course, one always has to consider the conditions under which they cook. Weather (humidity, heat, cold), different types of ovens, different quality of pots, etc. – all of which can affect your cooking and baking.
Nevertheless, as I said, if I can do it, anyone can!
Baking Pantry Essentials
I never know when someone in my family is going to want a dessert at home, to bring to a friend’s house or need for an event, so I like to make sure I can bake anything with very short notice. To that end, I keep a variety of supplies and ingredients in the house that will allow me to do just that.
I can’t tell you how many times I was glad to have whatever I needed within reach for the last minute visitor or for when one of my kids went to a friend or had a school event without much prior notice.
I have slowly collected things over the years as I needed them (or if I found a good sale) and like to keep more than one of the smaller items, in case I don’t want to wash dishes in the middle of baking.
My basic “equipment” includes:
- a stand mixer, which I use mostly for dough and, sometimes whipping
- a hand mixer (for things that aren’t dough and I don’t want to mix manually)
- a small scale
- different sizes and shapes of baking pans, including loaf pans
- mixing bowls (or just large bowls – I have plastic, glass, and metal)
- cookie sheets
- pie dishes
- dry measuring cups
- liquid measuring cups
- whisks
- rubber spatulas (really good for when you don’t want to leave anything in the bowl)
- rolling pins
- a baking mat for rolling out dough
- baking strips
- a good supply of baking (or parchment) paper (also round for layer cakes)
I can certainly get by without a lot of the above, but it makes baking so much simpler when I just have whatever I need at my fingertips.
In addition to the equipment, there are the baking ingredients that I try to keep in the house at all times:
- flour
- white granulated sugar
- brown sugar (light/dark – I usually keep dark)
- confectioners sugar(powdered sugar)
- salt
- baking powder
- baking soda
- cocoa powder
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- ground ginger
- ground cloves
- baking chocolate
- chocolate chips
- instant dry yeast
- vanilla and/or vanilla sugar
- cooking oil/cooking spray
- margarine or butter
- eggs
- honey
- instant coffee
- various extracts (real or imitation)
I also make sure that I have the following on hand to be able to make a variety of fillings, frostings, and toppings:
- whipping cream
- powdered pudding mix
- powdered sugar
- a good chocolate spread
Then, there is the following to make last-minute quick desserts:
- packaged pie dough or ready-made pie crusts
- puff pastry dough
Lastly, it’s not a bad idea to keep fun toppings, such as chopped walnuts, raisins, and the oh-so-important container of sprinkles.
Tips for baking and cooling baked goods
Preparing the batter
As obvious as that may sound (except to people like me), following instructions when baking is important.
It seems to make that all-too-often, bloggers will add extra steps or add extra ingredients unnecessarily complicating the recipes.
Nonetheless, sometimes, what seems unnecessary can be helpful.
That noted, the best way to start, unless directed otherwise, is by putting the dry ingredients in the bowl first and combining them together and then add the wet ingredients.
I haven’t found that it matters much what order ingredients are put in the bowl when it comes to dough, however, with batter, it can make a difference and it is a good practice to add the wet ingredients, one at a time, blending lightly in between, mixing slowly and thoroughly.
Dumping all of the ingredients in before mixing can leave flour clumps which may not dissolve while baking and mixing too quickly will add air bubbles, which can create air gaps in the cake
Flour clumps, especially the larger ones, may not bake into your cake and you may find them in your slices. If you have them, remove as many as you can before baking. Using a strainer helps. (Yes, this has happened to me.)
If you find you do have a lot of little air bubbles, gently tap the side of the bowl with your fingers before you pour into the pan (you can do this with the pan if you didn’t notice the bubbles until you already poured the batter).
The tapping will pop them (you can actually see this). You may not get rid of them all, but the bigger ones are more important to pop. The bubbles seem to be more of a problem with thinner batter and with thicker batter.
The batter
Before you pour the batter into the pan(s), make sure that it (they) are well coated with something to help prevent your final products from sticking.
There are various ways to do this, depending on your preference. You can use some type of fat, such as oil or cooking spray, margarine, or butter, you can coat with a fat and then some flour, or you can use baking paper.
My personal preference is to place baking paper on the bottom of the pan(s) and then coat with cooking spray or visa versa. Baking paper can come in individual sheets or in rolls. For round pans, you can buy a suitable size that will fit right on the bottom of the pan.
If you are making layer cake, separate the batter equally into both pans. The best way to do this is to weigh the pans with batter to make sure they are even. Personally, I just eyeball it (which is probably not the best idea unless you have a good eye).
Baking
Ovens often vary in how they spread heat, something that can cause uneven baking. This can cause a variety of problems in baking, such as lopsided cakes, raw middles, over-baked sides, etc.
One way to help prevent this is to turn your pan around on the shelf in the middle of baking to help ensure it will bake more evenly.
Another reason for uneven baking, where the item comes out fine on the top and burnt on the bottom, is if a crumb or a piece of something is at the bottom and will burn as you bake.
If your cake comes out lopsided, one way to fix that is to slice off the uneven part before putting on the frosting. I hate losing cake, so when it do this, I will slice approximately half way through the higher part and flip it over on to the lower part before adding the frosting.
To help prevent lopsidedness in the first place, this method is often used: take a strip of aluminum foil that is around 4-6 inches longer than the circumference or perimeter of your pan and lay the wet paper towel on it fold the foil over the paper towel lengthwise so it is just a bit less wide than the height of the pan.
Wrap the foil around the pan and slide one end in the other (crimp it a bit if you need to so it will hold). This will create a moisture barrier for baking (I have read that some people put a pan of water in the oven when baking – I haven’t tried that yet).
I found all of that a little tedious, so I bought cake strips. These are absorbable cotton belts, around 2″ wide and come in a few different lengths to be wrapped around and secured on round cake tins. They are soaked (but not dripping) when you wrap them around the pan.
If you need to use them for a larger rectangular pan, you can just attach a number of them together.
Cooling
You know your baked good is ready when a toothpick can slide clean and easily in and out of the baked item (or when the top is a little firm and springy), it can be removed from the oven.
Leave to cool for 10 – 15 minutes.
If you are going to remove the item from the pan, run a knife around the sides between the cake and the pan. Place a plate or cooling rack over the top and flip.
If you want the top side to remain on the top, you will flip the item over twice (once to remove from the pan and once to get it back).
For cupcakes and muffins, I recommended using cupcake paper and after you have used the knife to loosen them from the cup, you should be able to just pop out carefully using the same knife.
A little about bananas
Bananas are a healthy and comparatively inexpensive fruit. The most popular type found in grocery stores starts out (and are shipped to destination countries) green, but turn yellow by the ripening process. Unripe, they are not sweet but get softer and sweeter as they ripen.
Bananas normally have approximately 80 – 110 calories, depending on size and are almost exclusive made up of carbohydrates and water, with only a little protein and no fat. In addition, bananas have nutrients, anti-oxidants, and a variety of other health benefits.
When used in baking, the over-ripe bananas (the kind that you would often throw out as non-edible) give the most flavor. You can freeze bananas (even those that are ripe and flavorful enough for good eating) and they will be perfect to bake with when defrosted.
So, not only are Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins delicious, but they have some benefits too!
Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Moist, non-dairy, banana muffins rich in chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups white all-purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract or flavoring
- 3 medium size bananas, as over-ripe as possible, mashed
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Add the egg, oil, vanilla, and bananas and combine well.
- Mix in 1 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Using a large spoon or ladle, pour batter into the paper-lined or greased standard muffin cups until they are 2/3 to 3/4 full.*
- Take from the remaining chocolate chips and generously sprinkle on top.
- Place in oven that has been preheated to 350° F.
- Bake for 15-20 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (normally the top will have browned slightly, but sometimes the middle is still not done).
Notes
*The higher you fill the the muffin cups, the higher they will turn out, but the quantity will be less. Also, be careful not to overfill or they will spill on to the muffin tin.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 258Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 12mgSodium: 152mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 2gSugar: 24gProtein: 3g