Jumbo Banana Chocolate Marble Muffins
Jumbo banana chocolate marble muffins!! Bakery style! Aren’t you drooling already? These will be the best banana and chocolate muffins you could ever have! They are rich, moist and oh-so-soft! These banana chocolate muffins are made with both melted butter and oil, which are key in preserving that softness and tenderness for days. And I used a whole bag of mini chocolate chips, so you know there will be chocolate chips in every bite!
You have probably heard me complaint before how much I don’t like banana bread. Like nothing at all. Let’s say that, even if my banana bread recipe is so beloved by a lot of people (from a technical point it’s a very well developed recipe), personally I’ll happily pick anything else before any banana bread. But then a magical ingredient entered in my banana bread game: chocolate! I’ve never given banana bread a chance with some sort of chocolate in the mix. That’s until one day I started thinking about these jumbo and bakery style banana muffins with marbled chocolate and chocolate chips. I knew the time had come for me to take my relationship with banana bread to the next level!
This recipe doesn’t require any kind of mixer or special equipment. You do need a few bowls though. At a glance, this is how they are done:
How I made my Jumbo Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
I started by mixing the milk with white vinegar to make buttermilk. The vinegar needs about 15 minutes to curdle the milk, about the time you’ll need to prepare the rest of the ingredients. I did this in a large measuring cup so I could mix in later the rest of the wet ingredients. If you have happen to have buttermilk you can skip this step.
In a medium bowl I mixed the cocoa powder with some light brown sugar and a bit of coffee granules (to enhance the cocoa flavor) and the hot water to create a cocoa paste. It’s a good idea to make this step in this stage of the recipe so the mixture has cooled down a bit when it’s to be incorporated. Use a medium bowl because you’ll pour some batter over the cocoa mixture.
Then I mashed my bananas with a hand whisk to really break those big banana lumps. I mixed in some cinnamon and light brown sugar as well to keep adding flavor to all the layers of the muffins. I used frozen bananas, so I peeled them up over a paper towel and squeezed as much liquid as I could before mashing them. If doing this, make sure there are no banana chunks in between the paper towel.
Next I mixed very well my flour, natural granulated sugar, baking powder and salt.
I beat the eggs into the buttermilk and mixed in the sour cream, cooled melted butter and the oil. I poured this into the dry ingredients and mixed well. So that you know, this is a very thick batter. Fold in almost all the chocolate chips (I like to sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top).
Here’s when the fun starts! You’ll add about ¼ of the batter to the cocoa mixture. Then you’ll add the bananas to the main batter. Fill your muffin tins with some of the banana batter. Scoop a spoonful of the cocoa batter in the center. Drop some banana batter on top, a bit more of the cocoa batter and finish by covering everything with the banana batter. The tins should be heaping with batter to ensure that pretty mushroom like shape.
If you have the chance chill these for 10 to 15 minutes. This is an optional step but will help the texture and flavor plus the contrast of the chilled batter with the super hot oven will make the muffins rise evenly and higher (we start with a 425° temperature before dropping it to 350° after 5 minutes). You can even make these the night before and bake the next morning, just bake then for a couple of extra minutes.
Before baking, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and lots of sugar on top for a super crunchy topping. Bake according to recipe.
I know this banana chocolate muffins requiere few steps and preparation but trust me, they’re TOTALLY worth it!! Not only are they the most delicious and best muffins ever but they looked so cute and adorable in a cake stand on my kitchen counter. It made me dream about running my own bakery shop, with those big jumbo muffins waiting to be eaten by the next visitor! Are these muffins going to be in your play pretend bakery as well? If you make this recipe I would love if you share with me how it goes!! You can comment here or send me a snap through Instagram! Until the next recipe!
Jumbo Banana Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
◯ Milk (whole or reduced fat or pure coconut) - ½ cup
◯ White vinegar - 1 TBSP
◯ Unsweetened cocoa powder - 4 TBSP
◯ Coffee granules (optional but highly recommended) - ¼ Tsp
◯ Light brown sugar - 2 Tsp, divided
◯ Very hot water (heated in the microwave) - about ⅓ cup
◯ Ripe bananas (see how to’s if using frozen as I did) - 5 or 4 very large
◯ Ground cinnamon - ¼ Tsp or a bit more for an extra kick
◯ Unbleached all-purpose flour - 3 cups
◯ Natural granulated sugar - 1 cup
◯ Baking powder - 3 ½ Tsp
◯ Fine sea salt - 1 Tsp
◯ Organic free range eggs - 2
◯ Sour cream - ¼ cup
◯ Butter (preferably unsalted) - 4 TBSP (½ stick), melted and cooled down
◯ Vegetable oil - ½ cup
◯ Mini semi-sweet chocolate chips - 12 oz. (1 pouch), mixed in a bowl with two teaspoons of flour
◯ Extra natural granulated sugar or demerara sugar for sprinkling on top of the muffins before baking.
Details
Yield:
6 jumbo or 12 regular banana chocolate muffins
Total time:
50 minutes
Active time:
20 minutes
Baking time:
20 to 25 minutes
Equipment:
a few mixing bowls, muffin or cupcakes pan
Steps
Preheat oven to 425°. Prepare your muffin or cupcake pan by lining them with cupcake liners and spraying a bit of baking spray on them.
In a medium bowl or large measuring cup mix the ½ cup of milk with the tablespoon of vinegar to create a buttermilk. If using buttermilk, just pour it in the bowl.
Place the 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder, the ¼ teaspoon of the coffee granules and 1 teaspoon of light brown sugar in a medium bowl and combine. Start by pouring about 4 tablespoons of the very hot water and mix until you have a very thick paste. Add more water if needed until you have a thick but well hydrated chocolate paste.
In a bowl mash and whip the bananas with a hand whisk until there are no large banana lumps. Add the ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon and the remaining 1 teaspoon of the light brown sugar and mix well.
In a large bowl combine with a hand whisk the 3 cups of flour, the cup of granulated natural sugar, the 3 and ½ teaspoon of baking powder and the teaspoon of fine sea salt for about 30 seconds to make sure everything is well distributed.
Add the two eggs to the milk vinegar mixture (or buttermilk if using) and beat them up until no large streaks of egg are visible. Mixing after adding each ingredient, add the ¼ cup of sour cream, the 4 tablespoons of melted butter and the ½ cup of vegetable oil.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk mixture. Gently start stirring until everything is well mixed and all the flour looks wet. The mixture is going to be pretty thick. Fold in the mini chocolate chips. You can fold all of them or leave about ¼ cup reserve for sprinkling them on top of the muffins if desired.
Using a large cooking spoon transfer about 1/4 of the batter to the cocoa mixture bowl and mix until well combined and there are no visible streaks. Mix in a folding motion to not overwork the batter.
Transfer the banana mixture to the batter bowl and mix just until bananas seem well incorporated.
Fill about 1/3 of each muffin well with the banana batter. Spoon a spoonful of the cocoa batter on top. Do not spread it. Spoon a spoonful of the banana batter on top, spreading it a bit so it reaches the muffin tin wall and covers the cocoa batter. Spoon again a bit more of the cocoa batter, about half of what you added before. Cover everything with the remains of the banana batter. Your batter should be heaping from each muffin well. If you have the time, chill your muffins in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. (You can cover them well and bake the next morning.)
Sprinkle each muffin with lots of sugar. Bake muffins in 425° for 5 minutes, then decrease oven temperature to 350° and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean of batter after you inserted it through the middle of a few muffins. Remember that the toothpick could have melted chocolate from the chocolate chips.
Retire from oven and let the muffins cool down completely before eating. I smeared some softened butter on some bites for pure bliss! My husband thinks I’m weird for that and eats them just like they come out from the oven.
