Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

I made these over Superbowl Weekend. Because when everyone else is talking about chicken wings and nachos, I want peanut butter and chocolate. To be fair though, I want peanut butter and chocolate all the time. In any case I thought they would be a good compromise between breakfast and dessert.

In that I would eat one for breakfast on the Saturday I made them and then serve them as dessert on Sunday when I watched the Superbowl. Yup, I’m crafty that way.

I know I've said I don't really like it when super sweet things are called "muffins" when they are clearly cakes, so you might be surprised I'm calling these muffins in spite of the cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and peanut butter. Honestly, I debated over it for a while. But despite everything these aren't particularly sweet except for the bites with the peanut butter.

We clearly need a word for things that straddle the muffin-cupcake divide. Mufcake? Cupfin? Those both sound disgusting. I'll get back to you.

In any case, I'm sorry I've kept these from you for so long. I think a part of my brain was afraid that if I shared the recipe there would be no more for me. It's a strange place, my brain. It likes to hoard delicious delicious recipes. 

Though once you eat one of these suckers, I think you'll begin to understand. Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

Slightly Adapted from Alida’s Kitchen 

These clearly aren’t healthy by any stretch of the imagination, but they aren’t terrible either. As is, each muffin is just under 200 calories. You can further make it better by switching out the oil for applesauce, but I didn’t have it on hand so I can’t promise you it’ll taste exactly the same. These are dense puppies, so make sure to have something to drink on hand!

Ingredients

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch sea salt (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch ground nutmeg
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (approximately 1 large banana)
3 tablespoons nonfat Greek yogurt
1/2 large egg
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanut oil (recipe called for canola oil, but I didn’t have. Applesauce would also work fine)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons chunky peanut butter (smooth is fine as well)

Equipment

Mixing bowls, muffin tins, glass of milk handy

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare muffin tin by either adding liners or spraying with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, add flours, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, whisk mashed banana and yogurt until smooth. Add in egg, sugar, oil, and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Add flour mixture and fold gently until just combined (I found I had to add an extra tablespoon or so of water to get the mixture wet enough to fold, feel free to do the same). Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin cup two-thirds full with batter (about 1 and 1/2 heaping tablespoon). Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon peanut butter into the center of each cup. Evenly divide rest of batter to cover the tops and peanut butter of each muffin. Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in tins for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy with a glass of milk. Seriously, I know I’ve mentioned this three times so far in the recipe, but it’s honestly vital.

Makes 6 to 7 muffins