Because they're stupidly easy and delicious. 5 minutes and into the oven. And who doesn't need a reliable muffin recipe? Far too much of our existence is subject to the tumultuous chaos that every day life brings, but these will not let you down, I promise.
Of course, this is a promise I can make blithely typing away at 1:08 am on a keyboard thousands of miles away... But I'm still feeling fairly confidant in my claims.
Let me first clarify for you my standard for "delicious". Everyone has a standard, whether you realize it or not. Some people I know will send back fish three times if it's not cooked right (a legitimate move when you've been trained in a kitchen in Paris). Others will simply fry up whatever is left in the fridge and call it food... Personally I find myself in the difficult position of desperately disliking badly made / bad quality food, but without the inspiration to be constantly creating new concoctions of deliciousness.
I currently work part time (dazzling reality check guys: follow your dreams = be prepared to work your butt off for them. I work 2 part time jobs to support my little business) at one of the most highly acclaimed cafe/restaurants in Jerusalem. We have indisputably some of the best coffee in the city, and our food is famous around the world. However, Jerusalem is not known for its vast array of culinary delicacies, and finding a cafe or restaurant that serves good food has now become a challenge, because our palettes have now become so accustomed to the fresh, flavorful food we make, that we can instantly pick apart food that hasn't been made with the same care. (disclaimer here; I did not slip into the Royal "we" right there, I was in fact grouping with me my fellow staff members, as we all share in the same burden). The moral of this all being that even if I had the money to constantly eat out, I wouldn't because I just don't like the food available.
My obvious culinary mission therefore, is to find the easiest, freshest, fastest, yummiest recipes that will achieve the quality I so desire, without having to invest hours in preparation. You may have noticed that healthy was not high on my list of motivators. To be honest, I love bread, don't really like sweet things, don't like eating too much anyway, and generally have a fairly balanced and healthy diet as a result of the things that we like to cook at home, so its never really been a big focus for me, more of a default. There are plenty of things that I could complain about this country, but the availability of fresh and healthy produce is not one of them.
With all that off my chest, I can now get to the reason we're all here in the first place.
I've edited the recipe slightly - not sure if I am supposed to give credit to anyone here, but since I am now working from memory already, there's no chance of that anyway. My general theory for baking though is just do what works for you (within reason). Every oven is different, flour is different, eggs come different sizes, bananas are always different, but this recipe is fairly forgiving.
The Only Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins You'll Ever Need
3 large bananas, as ripe as possible (the squishier the better)
1 large egg
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
3/4 cup white or brown sugar - you can cut this down to 1/2 cup if you like them less sweet
1 1/2 cups flour - I like to do half brown/half white, but do whatever you like. Brown makes them a bit denser, which is why I personally avoid all brown
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp scant baking soda
pinch of salt
3/4 cup or so dark chocolate chunks
Whatever else you like - walnuts are delicious
Pre 1. Heat the oven to 175C / 350F and grease/line your muffin cases. This makes 6 large muffins, or 9 medium, or 12 cupcake size I would imagine.
1. Mash the bananas until there are no big lumps left
2. Add the egg, oil and sugar and mix together
3. Mix in the flour, salt, baking powder, soda, chocolate chips and/or whatever else you're adding. I'm sure you should mix the dry ingredients together first, but if you're short on time or patience then go ahead and just dump it all in and mix it together until combined. The mixture will be quite thick.
4. Fill your cases 2/3 to 3/4 full - they grow but don't double in size. Bake for between 20-25 minutes. Check them with a toothpick, but don't worry if some crumbs stick to it, its not supposed to come out 100% clean because banana always leaves a cake lovely and moist.
Leave them to cool for a few minutes before removing from metal cases. Enjoy!
Tip: There's rarely a banana too far gone to make muffins. If I have one that's gone black (even totally black) or that's too soft for eating, just toss it in the freezer and save it for your next batch of muffins. Then whenever the craving hits, you already have your lovely squishy ripe bananas ready for defrosting. It also cuts out most of the mashing because they're so soft you can just mix them in!
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