Description
These Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread Muffins are super soft , light, and full of banana-y goodness. They also happen to be the ideal pre-Autumn muffin, nutty with just a hint of spice. And at just $4 per batch (that's 33¢ per muffin) making this recipe is a bargain too! While the total time required to prepare this recipe is about 2 hours 45 minutes, you only have to spend 30-40 minutes actively working in the kitchen.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup warm almond or soy milk
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (approx. 2 medium)
- 1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
- 3-6 tbsp brown sugar
- 3-6 tbsp organic cane sugar
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour, sifted
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup mini dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Gather and measure all of your ingredients. I always make sure to do this before I start on a recipe, it’s definitely one of the best ways to prevent kitchen mishaps!
- In a small-medium sized bowl, combine the mashed banana, chia seeds, brown sugar, organic cane sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly using a hand blender.
- In a separate (larger) bowl, combine the sifted whole wheat pastry flour, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a second small bowl combine the warm almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk) with 1 tsp of active dry yeast. Let sit for about 10 minutes (no longer) to allow the yeast to activate. It should start to look a little bit foamy.
- Once the yeast has activated, combine the wet ingredients with the yeast mixture.
- With your hand mixer running, gradually add the combined wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix on low speed until only just combined.
- Line a muffin tin with large muffin liners. Fill each cup 3/4 of the way full with batter. One batch will make 12 regular-sized muffins.
- Cover them with a slightly damp dish towel – this will ensure that they don’t dry out and it’ll keep any debris from falling into the batter. Now set a timer for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Let them rise for the duration of the timer and then preheat your oven to 325F.
- Toppings (optional): Feel free to add some toppings before baking. My favourite combo is chopped walnuts + brown sugar, but I also like chocolate chips, cinnamon sugar, and flaked coconut. This part is totally up to you!
- Once preheated, bake the muffins for 13-16 minutes, until the tops are a caramelized brown colour.
Notes
If you're like me and you like to keep a stash of ripe bananas in your freezer, this is a great place to use them up! Previously frozen bananas are way easier to mash, just thaw 2 of them at room temp for for an hour before beginning the recipe. (For faster thawing, place them in an airtight bag in a warm water bath.)We also experimented with cooking the batter in loaves but we had much better results with muffins.Adjust the amount of sugar to suit your preferences. We opt for the higher amount for a dessert muffin, and do the lower amount for a healthier breakfast/snack muffinIf you don’t have brown sugar you can use cane sugar to make up the difference, just add an extra 1-2 tsp of molasses to the recipe.These are amazing served with a light pat of vegan butter like Earth Balance.