It’s Small Batch Saturday! This recipe, like so many others out there in the blogosphere, was inspired by an overly ripe banana (and a chocolate craving). I made this on a whim, dumped a few ingredients I had on hand in my mixer, and ended up with a delicious chocolaty muffin. This has to be some kind of miracle, because nine times out of ten when I experiment, I end up with a gloopy mess.
Since muffins are one of those baked goods that are most definitely best eaten fresh, this small batch recipe is ideal when you’re only baking for 2 people. You’ll get 5 muffins out of this. The first muffin should be eaten right away by the baker for testing purposes, of course. That leaves one each to be eaten for breakfast, and one each to be eaten the next day. Aaron took his to work to make his coworkers jealous, and I took mine for a snack on my trip home to visit my family. As I sat at the airport eating my chocolaty goodness, I could not help but judge the lady sitting across from me eating her stale Starbucks banana bread.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup (about 1 large) mashed ripe banana
- 1/4 cup (heaping) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus additional for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and line a muffin tin with 5 paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add the egg, vanilla, and vegetable oil and beat with an electric mixer on medium low until just combined.
- Add the banana and beat on medium low speed to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.
- Divide the batter between the 5 liners (they should be about 1/2 full) and sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top of the muffins. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost clean (there can be a few crumbs, but no wet batter).
- Cool completely on wire racks.
Notes:
White whole wheat flour was just what I happened to have on hand, but you can use whole wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour as well.
If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can make this by hand.
These look so tempting! I love small batches, there are always too many sugary sweets around my house, so this kind of recipe is perfect! Pinning!
Thanks, Allie! Agreed, there are always way too many sweets around my place, too. Small batch baking is saving my waistline!
I’ll take a batch of these for breakfast, please! You can’t go wrong with chocolate and banana. Pinned!
Thanks for pinning, Ashley!
It’s perfect that your recipe only makes 5 muffins — I’m the biggest chocoholic and wouldn’t share a single one! Thank goodness my guy hates chocolate and always avoids it… Although that might be bad for my waistline. Oh well! š Such a cute image of you eating your moist, decadent muffin across from the stale Starbucks pastry. I bet that lady was jealously eying your treat when you weren’t looking!
P.S. Pinning for sure!
Thanks, Amy! You’re lucky your guy doesn’t like chocolate. We are both chocoholics!
So happy to have discovered your blog! I love finding new and exciting blogs. š And these muffins look perfect! Bananas and chocolate is one of my favorite combos and I love that it’s small batch as well!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Sarah!
Oh yummmm. I’m bringing dessert to a party tomorrow and I was all set to go with some kind of cookie, then I saw an amazing tres leches cake this morning and now I just want to bring chocolate-y banana muffins!!! I love it when experiments turn out well! Yayyyy š
Also, did you make the wooden backgrounds that you use or are they a table or something? I am thinking about trying to create some sort of wooden backdrop but I don’t have ANY woodworking tools…buying a table might be easier–ha! Anyway, love these photos as usual š
Thanks, Erika! I’m glad you asked about the background. I’ve seen tutorials on how to make wood backdrops, but I’m the LEAST handy person in the world and the thought of it too overwhelming for me. All of the wooden backdrops that you see on my blog come from here- https://www.etsy.com/shop/SwankyPrints. I use the 2ft x 2ft backdrops since I get the best light in a tiny corner of my kitchen, and they take up pretty much no space. I’m not affiliated with them in any way, but I have collected about 7 of their backgrounds now and love them!
Um hello GENIUS. Thanks so much Natasha!! I’m about to spend way too much time browsing their products š
These were great, thanks! I used regular whole wheat flour and the consistency wasn’t bad.
I’m fresh out of bananas… threw overly ripe ones out this morning. By “overly ripe” I mean rotten… smushy, I’ve been wanting to bake but couldn’t find time over the past few busy days. Therefore, when I carve out some therapeutic baking time tomorrow, I’m using buttermilk for a “stand-in” for the bananas. I’m baking for my kids, and they aren’t huge banana bread fans anyway (no clue whats wrong with them). I’ll let you know how my version turns out.
Anyone tried this with a flax egg or subbing applesauce for the banana? Just curious!