Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These moist, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are topped with (streusel) crumb toppings and drizzled with vanilla icing. Perfect for snacks.

We all know that making tasty baked goods requires more than the right recipe. Banana Muffins are a perfect example. Ask ten friends or family members about their favorite part of the muffin.

You’ll probably get a different reply from each person, from brown sugar topping to spices like cloves and cinnamon!

Jump to:

• Muffins Vs Cupcakes
• How to ripen bananas quickly
• Why sift the flour?
• How to keep chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom?
• Reasons for a thin batter
• Why use ripe bananas?
• Baking with Oil
• Ingredients
• Step by step instructions
• Related recipes
• Full Recipe

It would take too much time to make a treat to order. So how do you go about making the banana muffins that are sure to please nearly everyone’s taste buds?

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Two helpful hints are:

• Use ripe bananas in the mix.
• Properly store or freeze the muffins once they’ve cooled.

Muffins Vs Cupcakes

I love good over the top muffins and for me, they taste more savory rather than sweet. The texture is normally drier and a bit denser compare to cupcakes.

When you mention cupcakes, expect them to be sweet considering they're miniature cakes - they are more of a dessert, not a breakfast item.

But where do you draw the line between cupcakes and muffins, or how do you distinguish a cupcake and a muffin? It's the frosting.

Cupcakes are topped with creamy frosting that makes them taste super sweet.

However, the muffins can be drizzled with a thin glaze or streusel toppings. For me, a muffin is small quick bread while a cupcake is a small cake.

I’ve noticed that my local stores sometimes have only green bananas on the shelf. Part of the reason is that bananas are one of the few fruits that continue to ripen after they are picked.

Because of the distance between the plantation and the market, their harvest time is before the peel starts turning yellow or golden.

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How to ripen bananas quickly

There are three popular methods for reducing the ripening time needed so the banana is ready when you are.

1 Microwave in Minutes!

The yellow peel doesn’t always indicate a soft banana inside. Use a fork to poke holes in unpeeled bananas. Then put them on a paper towel in the microwave.

Zap them on high for 30 seconds. Repeat the process until the flesh is soft. Unpeel, scoop the fruit into a bowl, and mash.

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2 Hasten to Ripen Using the Oven.

The bananas will be ready in just a couple of hours. Set the temperature at 300° F. Separate each and place unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet lined with parchment or silicone.

• Leave some space between the fruit and bake for 30 minutes. If they aren’t soft enough, bake an additional 15 minutes.
• Don’t worry about the peel turning black – that’s normal. You just want the inside to be mushy enough for the recipe.
• Let the bananas cool on the baking sheet before working with them.

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3 Ripen Bananas by Putting them in a Closed Paper Bag.

Ethylene gas from the peels makes the fruit ready to use for baking in two to three days.

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Why sift the flour?

Sifting will aerate the flour hence, creating a lighter, easier to mix into other ingredients when forming a cake batter or dough. It also helps to remove lumps that can get into the batter.

Let's be honest. If you're not a frequent baker, your flour must be sitting in the paper sack and is hiding in the pantry for months. Once they're exposed to air, most flours tend to form clumps.

It is essential to transfer them to an airtight container and give them a big stir using a wooden spoon.

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How to keep chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom?

You must be wondering why these chips (or nuts, fruits, etc) sink in baked goods.

• One reason is "gravity", it's as simple as that, that's why chocolate chips or any other add-ins for the baking sink to the bottom when they are too heavy to stay suspended in the batter.

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Reasons for a thin batter

• It's over-mixed -- (just mix the batter until well-combined)
• The batter gets too warm, like in a hot kitchen -- (simply keep your kitchen as cool as you can)

What should you do?

Step 1

Add 1 or 2 tablespoon of flour ( or cocoa powder) from the recipe on your chocolate chips. Coating them helps a bit to overcome the chips from sinking straight to the bottom.

But don’t expect a dramatic difference using this method.

Step 2

Another option is to try using the "mini" chocolate chips instead because they're much lighter compared to the chunkier ones.

This means, if they don't weigh as much they're unlikely to sink.

Step 3

Try sprinkling mini chocolate chips on top of your muffin batter (or whatever you're baking) before you place them in the oven.

Remember, these chips aren't infused into the mixture, which means they won't sink as far as once the baking process starts.

You can use these methods to combat the sinking issue.

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Why use ripe bananas?

Bananas get sweeter as they ripen due of their starch is broken down into sugar hence overripe bananas make muffins delicious by adding sweetness and moisture; thus they are easier to mash than fresh bananas.

Keep the fresh, tasty goodness by storing up to three days in an airtight container.

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How ripe should the banana be?

How ripe, how dark should we let bananas go? Overripe bananas are absolutely necessary to the success of baking banana muffins, banana bread, or even banana cakes.

This means, the darker the color the better or at least they are loaded with black or brown freckles.

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Baking with Oil

Using oil makes the banana muffins super moist considering that ripe bananas have already their strong flavor, so using the butter is not that necessary.

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Type of oil to use

The most common ingredient being used for baking is vegetable oil. However, some of the recipes I encountered don't specifically mention what kind of vegetable oil to use when baking.

The fact is, you can use any kind of vegetable oil as they are liquid fats with similar consistency that yield the same texture.

The only distinction is the flavor when it comes to baking (but in cooking, the difference is the smoking point).

The important point here is to use vegetable oil that has a neutral flavor or as close to no flavor at all in order not to overpower the recipe you're baking.

You don't want your oil to add its own flavor to your dish.

Examples of neutral oils are canola (my go-to oil for baking) and safflower oil.

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How to store them

Make sure to let the muffins cool down completely before storing them.

Place the muffins in an airtight container lined with the paper towel and put another paper towel on top of the muffins before sealing.

If an airtight container is not available, you can use a Ziploc bag and line both sides with paper towels.

Remove as much air if possible before you seal the bag and store at room temperature and consume them within 4 days.

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How to freeze them

It’s easy to freeze banana muffins once they’ve cooled down.

• Wrap each muffin with cling film, place them in ziplock bags, and freeze.
• Thaw at room temperature or nuke in the microwave and serve warm.

Once frozen, they're consumable for up to 2 months but after that, their quality starts to degrade.

Extra Tip: Muffins should be removed from their pans almost immediately so they don’t get soggy and have condensation. Or just prop them up a bit so air gets to the bottom of the muffins.

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Ingredients

• 1 and ⅔ cups plain flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 ripe bananas
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

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For The Crumb (Streusel) Toppings:

• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoon butter softened

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For the Vanilla Icing:

• 1 ½ cups confectioner sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoon milk

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Step by step instructions

For the Muffins

Step 1

In a bowl, use a fine-mesh sieve or strainer to sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Sift together using a whisk to combine the dry ingredients. Set aside the flour mixture.

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Step 2

In another bowl containing chocolate chips, add in 2 tablespoon of the flour mixture and mix well to coat chocolate chips with flour. This will prevent them from sinking to the bottom when baking.

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Step 3

Place the ripe bananas in a bowl. Roughly mash them, leave them chunkier. Add in vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and eggs. Whisk to combine.

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Step 4

Add in flour mixture and mix well. Do not over mix to ensure fluffy muffins. Pour in chocolate chips and flour mixture, mix just until everything is fully combined

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Step 5

Distribute batter evenly into 12 muffin cups. Crumble the streusel topping over the muffin batter.

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Step 6

Bake at 375 F for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

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For the Crumb (Streusel) Toppings

Step 7

In a small bowl combine the brown sugar, all-purpose flour, and cinnamon. Add in the butter and mix.

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Step 8

Crumble this streusel topping over the muffin batter.

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For the Vanilla Icing:

Step 9

Combine the vanilla icing ingredients and mix well. Drizzle over prepared banana muffins.

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Related recipes

• Double Dipped French Toast
• Croque Madame Sandwich
• Egg Salad Sandwich

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Full Recipe