Flashback Friday: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

I know this is hard to believe, but I actually baked something including both chocolate and bananas without even opening the peanut butter.  I mean, peanut butter would obviously be good here, but it's not part of the tradition with this recipe.

Saturday mornings at our house usually involved a special breakfast.  More often than not my mom stirred up a batch of muffins from this Granny's Muffin House cookbook. The batter takes only a few minutes to stir together and they're out of the oven in less than 15 minutes.  Mini muffins quickly found their way into eager hands and disappeared in no time flat.  The book features a basic muffin recipe with seasonal variations and mix-ins from cover to cover.  This banana chocolate chip version was by far my favorite.

A sweet, simple muffin is dressed up with chunks of banana and chocolate chips.  No need for black bananas or mashing here, just cut the banana into bite-sized pieces and stir into the batter.  Over the years we made multiple adaptions to the recipe.  Depending on the health trends or needs of the family we tried various combinations of fat and sugar substitutes.  The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup melted butter, but we generally used part applesauce.  As long as there were warm bites of banana and plenty of chocolate chips any variation was quickly gobbled up.

Some things just taste like home.  These muffins definitely fit into that category.  My mom sent a batch with on college move-in day, and I savored it as long as possible.  One bite and I'm transported to a cozy Saturday morning at home in the kitchen.  Yes, Saturday morning mini muffins are a tradition I fully intend to carry on.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
recipe adapted from Granny's Muffin House

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 cup milk
2 medium bananas, cut into small chunks
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
* Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease 48 mini muffin cups with nonstick spray.
* In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar; set aside.
* In a small bowl lightly beat the egg.  Whisk in applesauce, oil and milk.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in wet mixture. Stir until flour is almost mixed in, then fold in bananas and chocolate chips.  Do not over-stir batter or muffins will be tough and rubbery; it's okay to have a few streaks of flour left.
* Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool 2 minutes before removing from pans.

Food for Thought: "A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act." -Mahatma Gandhi