. . .
Hello, friends. I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was action-packed, as many weekends are. This is because I have to work. I have to work when the rest of you are out having fun. And don’t try tellin’ me you don’t have fun without me. I know about the circus. I’m not sure how you get the elephant poop and cotton candy cleaned up so fast at the end of the day, but somehow you manage. And I know you’re probably eating lots of cake all weekend – without me. I’m happy for you. It’s not like I’m standing at work, surrounded by dozens of germy kids thinking: I hope all of you cake-eating circus fiends rip your favourite pants today.
Unrelated question: when did muffins get so healthy? Remember when you didn’t have to sharpen your teeth to gnaw through a muffin? When coarse texture was frowned upon? When I was a kid, muffins were either a) unhealthy, or b) bran. Two options. Now muffins are getting wrecked. They’ve got apricots in them. Why? Why would you wreck a perfectly good muffin with apricots? Oh, and how about dates? Wanna know where that little fruit’s name came from? The word date comes from the Greek word for finger. “Pass me a finger muffin, please.” No. Not here at the Cat Farm. I won’t allow it. I will take your healthy muffin and throw it in the street.
Now, let me tell you about these banana chocolate chip muffins. These here muffins are a cakey muffin. That’s right, they are like a cake. A cake that you can pack in your lunch kit. They are not particularly good for you. That’s why they are awesome. You could eat them for breakfast. Or a snack. Or a dessert. These muffins multi-task. Prune muffins can’t do that. Prune muffins have to hope that you are still half asleep when you eat them. You’re never going to say, “hey, do me a solid and pass me one of those deformed lookin’ rye bran spelt muffins for dessert.” Not possible. “Hand me one of those banana chocolate chip muffins for a sa-weet treat?” Totally believable.
So next weekend, when you’re at the circus without me, pack a banana chocolate chip muffin in your snack bag. And maybe an extra pair of pants. You know… just in case wishes really do come true.
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Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins – inspired by Rosie Beaucoup - print and bake
Yields one dozen muffins.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup mashed bananas (approximately 2 bananas)
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup walnuts
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Line or grease the wells of a muffin tin.
In a medium to large sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add the egg, milk, oil and bananas, stirring until just combined.
Add the chocolate chips and walnuts, gently stirring to combine.
Fill muffin wells two-thirds full and then bake 18-20 minutes – tops should be golden and a toothpick should come out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the muffin tin, and then remove muffins to a rack to cool completely.
That made me giggle a lot. My favourite pants are also in tact so you must still love me. One question though… What is this “hey, do me a solid” malarkey? Is a “solid” a Canadian favour?
Doing someone a solid is doing someone a favour. (See here.) I’m very street.
Yet again – made me laugh hard enough to distract my husband to pause the football game and listen to me read your post. Will make these this week while kids are out of school. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Anything to put football on hold…
They look absolutely amazing. I adore the photos. I’ve been working all weekend too, don’t worry, Still, I get to bake tomorrow
I’ve never thought of muffins as healthy. Also, I didn’t start enjoying muffins until I tried homemade versions like these. Store bought muffins are gigantic, dense and overly sweet. Yuck! But yours look perfect.
So about that elephant poop—I know comments are supposed to be about you (the blogger) and your food, etc. but you started in on the elephants and I got all excited to tell you this: At the local pet shop, there is a pooper-scooper that has a fake, removable plastic poop in it. It’s supposed to demonstrate, I guess, that the item can pick up something the size of elephant poop, if that’s the way your dog rolls. Anyway, whenever I take Thunder there, she bee-lines for the pooper scooper, grabs the elephant poop prop in her mouth, and wiggles around the store. All excited and proud, like she just invented fire, or press-on nails, or post-its. It’s super awkward. The woman who runs the store probably thinks she’s underfed, or that this somehow reflects her actual diet. I always mouth “she doesn’t do this at home,” but she’s not impressed. Maybe if I will leave out the chocolate, I can use these muffins as a Thunder-lure next time I go. Not that your muffins are for the dogs. That’s not what I meant.
Too much?
Too much? Never. I’ve always felt that my baking could benefit all creatures, great and small. Thunder is obviously amazing, and deserves baked treats. Also, maybe if you were to feed her muffins intended for humans, she would poop elephant sized poops and you could justify buying the over-sized pooper scooper. Just sayin’.
i am all for muffins filled with butter, sugar, and more sugar.
right on!
Ugh, agreed, healthy muffins are an abomination. But these are proper muffins and, oh, they look so good and I wish I was eating one for breakfast. I’m going to go cry into my porridge now.
This is so, so sad.
yum! such a great combination of flavors! can’t wait to bake these! thanks for the recipe!
Can I just tell you how much I adore your pictures? Truly, they are lovely.
The recipe sounds great too.
You don’t know how much that comment means to me. I suffer from terrible photophobia. (I’m pretty sure that’s the proper term for someone who has a fear that her photos suck butt.) I’m just learning about photography, and I have to take approximately 3,000 shots to get 3-4 photos that I can post on this here blog without shaming my family.
Now I will tell my family to contact you when they doubt my awesomeness.
Okay….so obviously great minds think alike because I think it’s kind of weird that I was going to post banana chocolate chip muffins this week too. I think I’ll put mine on hold for another day so as to not compete with your fantastic pictures.
Seriously though….I almost lost my tasty beverage when reading this. Thank you so much for always brightening up my day!
So, you’re saying that we’re cosmic muffin friends, right? That’s, like, the best kind of friend. I look forward to reading your post – I hope they aren’t too healthy…
Beautifully simple muffins and simply beautiful photos.
Beautiful photos. These muffins look delicious. I can’t wait to try them. Thanks for the recipe.
Wow, your photographs are just gorgeous! Love your styling. And these muffins are irresistible, too~
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more perfect muffin. And chocolate and banana? Oh yes!
Deeee-licious! Any excuse to get chocolate into breakfast
I have some ripe bananas that were destined for banana bread… no longer!