Whole Wheat Banana Muffins with Pure Dark Chocolate Slab pieces
Over the weekend I had invited an old friend to come to my house for brunch. It's easier to entertain at home these days since Nate has become a rambunctious 17 month old toddler. I had not seen this friend in over 20 years and I wanted to roll out all of my culinary tricks to woo her. I didn't have the energy or time to whip up a five star-breakfast-at-the-Ritz meal. However I had just enough time and all of the ingredients to make my whole wheat banana muffins. Plus I had a secret ingredient that I really wanted to utilize — a fabulous "Slab" of 70% Cacao chocolate from Pure Dark. It was the 2nd chocolate sample I had received from FoodBuzz and I had not even opened the package yet — talk about will-power! I was hoping to use the chocolate in a recipe and this one seemed like the perfect pairing. The slab of chocolate worked even better than I would have guessed. I cut the chocolate slab using a serrated knife and kept some pieces in chunks; the rest of the chocolate was finely chopped. The results were amazing; pockets of dark chocolate pieces and feathers of chocolate throughout each muffin. TASTY!
Whole Wheat Banana and Chocolate Muffin Ingredients:
This is version 3 of my banana muffins — you cannot go wrong with this recipe.
- 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour (or White Whole Wheat all-purpose Flour such as King Arthur brand)
- 1/2 Cup Quick Cook Oatmeal
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup Non-Fat Greek Style Plain Yogurt (use as much as a 6 ounce container if that's what you have)
- 2 Large Eggs or 1 Whole Egg and 1 Egg White (it depends on what you want-or of course, you could use egg substitute liquid)
- 1 & 1/2 Cups Banana Puree - about 3 Medium/Large Bananas. (It's okay to use a bit more, up to 2 cups, if that's what it measures)
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 to 3 Ounces Pure Dark Chocolate Slab - cut into chunks with a serrated knife (or use a good, dark chocolate, 60% to 72% cacao)
- 12 Walnut Halves to garnish each muffin (optional)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. Use a 12 portion regular sized muffin tin and line each with cupcake liners/inserts.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, flours, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In another large mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and the yogurt and whisk to "cream" the sugar — incorporating the dairy product with the sugar to help the sugar to dissolve. Mix in the eggs, banana puree and vanilla. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is frothy.
- Gently fold in the flour mixture and the chopped chocolate into the wet ingredients, folding to combine. The batter will be wet, but should not be too loose.
- Using a spring loaded ice-cream scoop, fill each muffin insert to the top with the mixture. It's easier to fill the muffin cups with the ice-cream scoop. Add a walnut half, (if using) on the top of each muffin, pressing gently to slightly submerge the walnut half into the batter. Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes before removing them. Turn out and cool the muffins on a wire rack completely before serving. Makes 1 dozen 4-6 ounce muffins.
My husband was looking over my shoulder and DEMANDED That I make these!
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You must let me know how they turned out, and how much you and your husband enjoyed them! I find this recipe works really well to changes - I've used flax meal, combos of whole wheat & white flour, a variety of oats and wheat germ. I've re-written the actual recipe at least 5 times - three muffins and two loaf breads. I may have even more versions of it!
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