Banana Cupcakes with Double Chocolate Chips

I will let you in on a secret.. I am not a great sweet fan. No, don't look at me like that. errrr.... I mean, I like certain sweets but not all. I am very picky. So, when came across this recipe, I wasn't too sure how it would turn out.. So I took out all my baking paraphernalia and took to baking it with a gusto. The first time, however, I somehow doubled the milk quantity in my excitement and realised it once I had added all the milk into the batter. Awwww, how is it that you realise the moment you make a ghastly mistake, not a second before! Hmm.. let me think about it for a bit! Okay, the taste was great, but the muffins were bit on the softer side.. I didn't like them much.

Two weeks back, I was wondering what recipe to try next and realised we had extra bananas at home. And a plan was made. How could I be content with an (almost) failed attempt? Right? And this time, they did come out perfect. You bite into the muffins and could feel the goodness of chocolate, delicate aroma of bananas tempting your olfactory senses and seducing them with its mellow, sweet taste.. And I was a fan.

My sister likes banana walnut cakes. Though I had made healthy banana walnut loaf for her before, I will make banana walnut cupcakes with loads of chocolate chips in it. Slather it with some yummy nutella and I guarantee you that you will find yourself in heaven! 

Banana Cupcakes with Double Chocolate Chips

The batter yields 6 large cupcakes and 3 mini loaves

Adapted from Shaheen's PurpleFoodie

1/2 cup / 100g butter

1 ¼ cups / 250g sugar

2 eggs 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 cup / 225g bananas, mashed 

½ cup / 100 ml warm milk 

2 cups / 250g all-purpose flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

¾ tsp baking soda 

½ teaspoon salt 

¼ cup / 50g Dark chocolate chips 

¼ cup / 50g White chocolate chips

Method:

1.    Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F.

2.    Cream together the butter and sugar.

3.    Add the eggs, vanilla, mashed bananas.

4.    Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

5.    Add flour and milk in the following order: 1/3rd flour, ½ the milk, 1/3rd flour, rest half of the milk and finally the remaining 1/3rd flour till well combined.

6.    Stir in the chocolate chips and reserve some for the top.

7.    Bake for 20-25 (when using mini loaf pan or large cupcake mould, else reduce the time and check with wooden skewer) minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.

Double Chocolate Muffins

These yummy muffins were the first set of beauties to come out of my brand new oven late last year. The oven was home delivered by Girias and my excitement knew no bounds. I patiently waited for a day, went through the product manual and admired the oven for an entire day. When I couldn't wait anymore, I thought 'what could be better than double chocolate muffins for the very first trial'. And thus started the process and in 20minutes flat, my whole house was smelling of chocolate.

 

The recipe is very easy to follow. All you need is the raw materials, mixing bowl, spatula and muffins tins. Of course, no need to mention the oven I hope. Easy, right?! 

So, here comes the recipe:

Double Chocolate Muffins Recipe 

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp best quality cocoa powder

3/4 cup superfine sugar

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, plus 1/8 cup for sprinkling.

1 cup milk

1/3 cup + 2tsp vegetable oil

1 egg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

• Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar and 3/4 cup of chocolate chips into a large bowl and mix well.
• Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug. Mix the dry and wet ingredients. together. Don't over mix it.
• Spoon the batter into muffin cases.
• Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and bake at 180C for 20minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and spring back when touched.

Notes:

1. Lumpy batter makes for the best cup cakes. Over mixing causes the muffins to be dry and tough.

2. I used chocolate shavings (just shave the chocolate slab with knife to get thin chocolate flecks) for topping as I was short of chocolate chips. 

3. If your oven is small, you can refrigerate the batter until the second batch is ready to go into the oven. The muffins still rise beautifully.