Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins—this easy banana muffin recipe is my kids’ favorite. It takes 30 minutes to make, loaded with chocolate chips and pecans and covered with chocolate ganache.

This can be a family fun activity if your children love to bake like mine do. It is a mess free recipe that needs a few simple ingredients.

My daughters like to involve themselves in measuring and mixing, mashing the bananas and of course adding more chocolate chips than required. Who does not like more chocolate anyway!

Make sure you use very ripe bananas. If they are not, simply pop the bananas, with skin on, in the oven at 400F for 15 – 20 minutes to become ripe and ready to use.

What I like about these muffins is how versatile they are; you can add to them any kind of nuts, dark chocolate, white chocolate, or even dried fruits. Then you cover them with ganache or have them plain for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

Ingredients Needed:

You need a few simple ingredients for this recipe: 3 ripe bananas, sugar, canola oil, a large egg, milk, vanilla extract, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips, heavy cream and chopped pecans.

How to Make Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper liners. You will need 12 tins for this recipe.

In a bowl, using a hand mixer, or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix together the bananas and sugar on low speed until combined. The mixture will be light yellow and very smooth. Add oil, egg, milk and vanilla, and mix well.

I mix everything manually to give the kids something to do.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.

Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Pour the batter into muffin tins and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean.

Cool in tins for 15 minutes, then remove to wiring rack to cool completely.

Once they are cool, you can decorate them with chocolate ganache or with whatever topping you prefer; you can also enjoy them without any topping.

Though the pecans are optional in this recipe, I never bake Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins without them because they add a beautiful nutty flavor that is great with the taste of bananas and they add crunch to the muffins.

Some people replace pecans with walnuts or almonds. I guess when it is a matter of preference, make whatever changes that satisfy your palate.

How to Make Chocolate Ganache

For this recipe, I used half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and added quarter of a cup warm heavy cream. Once I got the desired consistency, I added a tablespoon of honey for sweetness and shine!

In a saucepan, heat the cream until little bubbles start forming on the side of the pan, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips.

Let the chocolate chips sit for 3 minutes in the cream, then mix together until they completely dissolve and you have a nice creamy sauce. Add the honey and let cook completely before using.

Try those dessert recipes too,
Strawberry Cream Cake
Banana Chocolate Cheese Cake
Chocolate Raspberry Cake
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Pistachio Cream Cheese Cake

— DID YOU TRY THIS RECIPE? —
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