Mushy Bananas- amazing banana bread recipe

I realize I haven't blogged for over a month. Um, I guess the reason is I have been extra busy, yep, busier than my usual ridiculous busy. And I've also been baking.  Why? -because the bananas keep going mushy.  My kids love chocolate chip banana bread, so I've tried quite a few recipes over the years.  I've found some good ones, but recently I decided I wanted to make banana zucchini bread, for the simple reason of getting rid of the zucchini that came in my bountiful basket before my husband could fry it up and make me want to gag! I know, I'm super nice.  So, I looked up a recipe that also included chocolate chips, and got cooking.

Wowzers!  Yummy!  I admit, after the first time, I altered the recipe. I kind of have a hard time following recipes exactly So, I will share the recipe and also the ways I changed it.

The recipe tells you to mix it a certain way.  I just threw it all in the mixer and gave it a good beating, then proceeded from there.  And I usually quadruple the recipe. Yesterday I multiplied it by 6.  And it fit in my Bosch.

I got the original recipe from tutti-dolci.com/2012/07/double-chocolate-banana-zucchini-muffins/

Here it is, with my changes noted after each ingredient. You can also make mini loaves or regular loaves.  6 times the recipe made 14 good sized mini loaves.

All the chocolate chips on the top kind of ended up in the middle of this loaf. I know which piece I want.

Double Chocolate Banana-Zucchini Muffins
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (can omit.  I ran out of cocoa powder so usually I have left this out)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk( don't pay for buttermilk.  Add 1 tsp lemon juice per cup and let sit for 5 minutes)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup honey ( or agave syrup)
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract( don't use a nasty kind. See my post about vanilla)
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 cup grated zucchini( or grated carrots, or a mixture of both)
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate
chips( this is not enough chocolate chips for me.  I doubled it.  More chocolate is more celestial)

Here are the directions according to me:

Bake at 350. Muffins 15-20 minutes. Mini loaves about 30 minutes. That is how it works in my oven. Yours might be different. Keep baking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or crumbly, but not gooey.

Okay, you can follow  the standard protocol of mixing the dry ingredients separately, then mixing the wet separately, then combining them, but as long as you don't go pyscho and overbeat the baking powder, you can just add it all at once, well after you mash the bananas.  What I usually do is mash the bananas and then add everything except the baking powder and chocolate chips. I mix well, then add the baking powder,and then I add the chocolate chips.

The original recipe calls for just sprinkling the chocolate chips on top. I double the amount and mix them in and then sprinkle some on top as well.  Chocolate is important.  Skimping on chocolate is simply wrong.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake.  You can use liners that are sprayed or just spray the pan.

I like these muffins because they taste fantastic. They are moist! They are chocolaty. They use up mushy bananas and yucky zucchini. ALL of my kids like them, and they qualify as a COMPLETE meal!

Every food group is represented- veggies, fruit, protein, dairy, grains, fats, and chocolate.
I have also substituted up to half of the flour with oat flour( made in my blendtec).  I'm sure they would be fabulous with whole wheat flour, but I've been using white.  I consider these to be relatively good for you.  If people can hand out junk like twinkies, granola bars, chips, ding dongs, and donuts as soccer snacks, I can consider a muffin full of chocolate to be a healthy snack . But, they don't taste healthy and the texture is excellent, not chewy like some recipes that skimp on fat.  They are moist, delicious, and well, usually gone pretty quickly after I make them.