ABC - Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

It's a new year, so it's a new recipe source for the ABC bakers. We'll be baking from the Scientifically Sweet blog by Christina Marsigliese. I've been following her blog for a couple years now and really enjoy her scientific approach to baking. What else would you expect from a food scientist? So let's "get our geek on" :o)

Before I move on to this month's challenge, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the ABC bakers (past and present) for their active and enthusiastic participation in 2014. I enjoyed reading your posts, seeing your pictures, and learning from your experiences. Thank you for making the ABC baking group successful. I'm sending you all a virtual hug :o)

This month's challenge, Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins, is one of my favorite things to bake anytime I have ripe bananas. And when I don't have time to bake while the bananas are ripe, I mash and measure them, put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them. That way they're ready to go whenever the baking mood strikes!

Yummy chocolatey goodness with a hint of banana!

I've baked these at least a dozen times, got my sister addicted to them and now I'm trying to do the same to you (mwuaaah haa haa) :o) 

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.


These muffins are really quick to make. No mixer needed. Just a whisk, and two bowls: one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet ingredients.

I like to use a spring loaded ice cream scoop for this

In no time you'll have a dozen tasty muffins on the table

The muffins you just saw were made a while ago. I could have just used these pictures and been done with this blog post, but as I mentioned before, I REALLY LOVE this recipe, so I baked it again for this month's challenge. One of our ABC bakers on Facebook baked this recipe in a loaf pan. I liked that idea so I gave that a try.

Super easy prep - all done by hand

Loaf plus a little sample size for what I call "Quality Control"

The loaf took almost an hour to bake

Moist and tender interior with melty pieces of chocolate chips. Bon Appetit!

Maybe I should have lowered the oven temperature a bit since I was using a dark pan. Although it tasted good, it was a bit dry, so I'm going to stick with the muffins in the future (also because they require less oven time which means less waiting and faster eating).


Final thoughts/tips:

• I absolutely love the texture of these muffins. They are very tender and moist, with a good chocolate flavor and a hint of banana. I also like that they're not overly sweet.
• Hubby finds them a bit too chocolatey but never says No when I offer him some. His rating is an 8 out of 10.
• These muffins freeze really well. After they're fully thawed out, I like to nuke them in the microwave for a seconds to get the chocolate chips all melty :o)
• I prefer to use mini chocolate chips instead of the regular chocolate chips. That way you're guaranteed a piece of chocolate in each bite.
• Hopefully I convinced you to make these muffins ASAP!! The original recipe can be found here. Since I converted the volume measurements into weight measurements, I will post the list of ingredients at the bottom of the post as well.
• Don't forget to check out what the other ABC bakers thought of these muffins.
• UPDATE 2/24/2015:
• I made these again and this time I subbed half of the all purpose flour with KAF White Whole Wheat flour. It baked up perfectly. Everyone who tried it, loved it. Nobody could tell there was whole wheat flour in it.
• UPDATE 5/5/2024:
• For a less chocolate-y flavor which my husband prefers, I reduced the cocoa powder to 19 grams and the mini chocolate chips to 30 grams. Also reduced the amount of oil to 35 grams (used EVOO). He rated this version a 9 out of 10!!

Double Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
(adapted from www.christinamarsigliese.com)
Yields: 12 muffins (recipe can easily be double to make 24 muffins)

Dry ingredients (sift together):

• 165 g all purpose flour (or half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour)
• 28 g cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1+1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I omitted this)

Wet ingredients:

• 3/4 cup mashed bananas (175 ml)
• 75 g sour cream (or plain yogurt)
• 1 large egg
• 100 g granulated sugar (or half granulated and half brown sugar)
• 50 g vegetable oil (this is in grams, not milliliters)
• 1 packet vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

Mix-ins:

• 85 g chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (or 175 C).
2. Grease and flour a muffin pan, or use cupcake liners.
3. Have ready two bowls: one for dry ingredients and one for wet ingredients.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, gently combine all the ingredients together.
5. Add in the mix-ins and gently stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Bake for 15-20 min, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs (not raw batter).
8. Remove muffins from pan and cool on wire rack.