I tried my best to prepare for the arrival of our wee little guy. I organized his closet, arranged the furniture in his room, washed his clothes, prepared frozen meals- all the usual stuff. Well, I did most of that. But that last thing, that cooking thing, that did not happen. I made and froze two things: breakfast sandwiches and these muffins.
Why? It could have been the fact that I was due at the very end of August and thus super pregnant during the hottest months of the year- who in their right mind wants to cook then!? It could have been that I could not stomach most meats while pregnant, and that I adored breakfast foods so that was all I could fathom cooking. It could also have been that I was just tired. Tired all the stinking time.
Regardless of the reason, I don't have much by way of frozen homemade meals in my freezer that I made. I do have these muffins though and I love them. I knew that as a nursing mom I might want sweet things and have no time to make a great meal three times a day, so these seemed perfect. They are sweet without having too much sugar and I could freeze them and thaw them whenever I wanted.
Our little guy is almost two months old and I still have some of these left, the chocolate is what gets me each time I eat one. It feels so decadent and tastes amazing. These would be great to make and share at work or to bring to new parents!
Recipe: Banana Chocolate-Chip Muffins
from Cup of Jo's guest post by The Roaming Kitchen Makes 28 muffins
Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 eggs
6 over-ripe bananas (or 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas)
1 tbsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Heat the oven to 350F. Get your muffin pan ready by greasing it or spraying it.
Add the brown sugar, white sugar and butter to a large bowl and mix for a few minutes or until it is fluffy. Add the eggs and keep on mixing until they are totally incorporated into the sugary buttery mixture.
Add the bananas, lemon zest, vanilla and applesauce to the bowl. Mix it all up until everything comes together. The batter looks, not gonna lie, pretty gross right now. That means you're on the right track.
Add the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl. Mix it all just enough to get it all combined. Then, the best part, add the chocolate chips and stir one last time.
Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about 3/4 of the way. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Let them cool a bit before eating, duh.
(I also made a loaf out of this and, gasp!, used my donut pan to make banana chocolate baked donuts. So go crazy, have some fun with it!)
Enjoy!
-m
