Dark Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Yum

Wow! Hi! I’ve taken a pretty long break! I just got back from a cross country road trip with my hubby, sons, and our 2 dogs! We went from our home, here in California, to Maryland and Virginia to visit my family. That’s where I’m originally from, and my whole family lives there. I haven’t seen them in a long time, and we had a wonderful trip and a great visit. Best part about being out on the road? Seeing new places all the time, taking the kids to really interesting places and taking lots and lots of pictures!! A little teaser for my next post…. I will be posting a recipe that was inspired by one of my favorite stops on our road trip! It’s a dish I’m completely OBSESSED with it, and that’s all I’m going to say about it for now. So make sure you don’t miss it because it’s awesome! Hint: I’m talking about this city… if you know where this is, then you win!

Do you know where this is?

So, now we’re back, and I am enjoying using my oven again.  I have to say that even though I have an oven in our fifth wheel, I rarely take the time to bake anything while we’re traveling… unless it’s like French fries or something! Even though the salesman did point out that our unit has an oven, for ‘baking cakes and pies’ when we were buying it. Ummmm, cakes and pies, when you’re camping? Yeah. Right. (Side note – if YOU make cakes and pies while you’re camping, then you’re my hero, and I’ll be over at dessert time!) One of my kids’ first requests when we got home was more “banana muffins”! I usually make a bunch ahead of time and bring them with us, but they go fast! They were gone about two days into our 2 month journey! They are super yummy, and a big family favorite around here!

Dark Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins

These muffins are pretty much one of my go to recipes, because they’re a real crowd pleaser. I like them because they are quick and easy to make, and they can be made as muffins, or in a loaf, and with a small modification, cake, but I think I’ll save that for a later post. (I’m subtly trying to get you to come back and hang out with me so we can have some fun and cook lots of yummy stuff together! If you subscribe by email or like me on BlogLovin’  you’ll get a notification when I post something new!)

I like to start with organic, ripe banana, preferably ones that already have a few spots on them.

I make these frequently with my kids, and I always give them the job of smashing the bananas. They love that job, especially when I give them my potato masher to do it with. If you don’t have a potato masher, or some boys to do it for you, you can use a fork, it works just as well.

Smashed Bananas

When I bake, I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks. They are vegan, so they have no cholesterol, they taste like butter, bake like butter, and have no hydrogenated fats, and they can be used in any recipe that calls for butter. Best part, I can find them at my regular grocery store, no trip to the health food store necessary! (Your experience may vary, depending on your location, but on our recent trip, I was delighted to find that across America, even in small towns, it’s getting easier to find vegan, organic and gluten free items!)

Earth Balance Buttery Stick

One of the questions people ask me most when we get to chattin’ about food, and they find out I’m vegan, is “what do you use instead of eggs?” It really depends on the recipe. This recipe is unique because bananas actually help hold things together, so the egg replacer I chose for this recipe is coconut milk yogurt. Sometimes you need something with a little bit more sticking power, but for these yummy muffins, the coconut milk yogurt is so easy and delicious, and I almost always have it on hand because my kids eat it with granola all the time for snacks and breakfast.

Coconut Milk Yogurt

I use Gluten Free Oat Flour for these muffins because it has a great flavor and texture for baking and it works well for me. If you need to substitute oat flour for another GF free flour or blend, go for it. I used to make these with regular all-purpose flour before I was gluten free, and when I made the switch, it was a 1:1 substitution with the oat flour, no problem. And getting to the best part of this recipe… the chocolate! Now, you can use regular semi-sweet, chocolate chips for this recipe if you want to, but what I really prefer, and what gives these muffins the WOW factor, is using dark chocolate chunks. They are great for baking because the pieces are bigger than chips, and they get all gooey in the muffins. I am generous with these when I make these muffins. I made these a few months ago for my photography club, and they went really fast!! And the comment that I heard the most, was how much everyone loved the gooey pockets of melted chocolate in the muffins!

So, that’s it! Let’s get to the recipe! Leave me a comment and let me know you stopped by, and if you enjoy these yummy muffins share this post with your friends.

Perfect with coffee!

Save Print

Dark Chocolate Banana Nut Muffins

Author: Angel McNall

Recipe type: Breakfast, Brunch or Snack

Prep time:  30 mins

Cook time:  25 mins

Total time:  55 mins

Serves: 1 Dozen

 

Perfect with coffee!

Delicious, gluten free and vegan Banana Muffins that are perfect for breakfast, snacks, or brunch.

Ingredients

• 5 ripe bananas, smashed
• ¼ C Vanilla or plain Coconut Milk yogurt
• ½ C Vegan Margarine, Earth Balance
• ¾ C raw sugar
• 2 C Gluten Free Oat Flour
• 1½ t baking soda
• 1½ t vanilla extract
• ¼ t sea salt
• ½ C chopped walnuts
• ¾ C Dark Chocolate Chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375*. Prepare muffin tin by greasing and flouring cups or use cupcake papers. Smash bananas until they are mostly smooth, with a few chunks left. Cream the margarine and sugar together and add to the smashed bananas. Next mix in yogurt, the vanilla and baking soda and combine. Next, add the flour, nuts, salt, and chocolate chunks. Mix thoroughly.
2. Spoon batter into muffin cups.
3. Bake a 375* for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (except for chocolate, if you hit a melted piece!). Muffins will be lightly browned on top when done.

3.4.3177