The Modern Baker: Cocoa Banana Muffins. Win a Free Cookbook.

Let’s make a pact never to bake boring muffins again! These cocoa banana ones have so much flavor and moisture that they don’t need a ton of butter or jam to make them edible – they’re just perfect as they are.

A couple of precautions to remember: Use really ripe bananas – a slightly green one might be OK for eating, but not for baking. The skin of your bananas should be dotted with tiny dark spots – the sign that they’re ripe enough for baking. Mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher, but not to a smooth puree – leaving some little solid pieces of banana in the batter will provide little explosions of banana flavor when you eat the muffins. And do seek out a good Dutch-process cocoa for this recipe – I always use Droste brand, pretty much available in most supermarkets. Van Houten, Bensdorp, and Hershey’s European-Style are other brands that will work well in the recipe.

And please don’t get up at 3AM if you want muffins for breakfast… Bake the muffins the day before, then tightly wrap them on a tray or plate and refrigerate them. Next morning, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place the muffins, still in their paper cases, on a cookie sheet. Heat them for 7 or 8 minutes – just long enough to take the chill away, then serve them still a little warm – they’ll be perfect.

Makes 16 standard muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)
2/3 cup alkalized (Dutch process) cocoa powder, sifted after measuring
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 medium bananas, peeled and mashed with a fork to make 1 1/2 cups
1/2 cup sour cream
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3 large eggs

Two 12-cavity muffin pans with 8 paper liners in each

1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees
2. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir well to mix.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together the mashed bananas and sour cream; set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and place on mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for about a minute, or until well mixed and a little lightened in color.
5. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating smooth after each addition.
6. Decrease the mixer speed to low and beat in half the flour mixture. Stop the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and beater.
7. On low speed, beat in the banana mixture. After the batter has absorbed the banana mixture, beat in the remaining flour mixture.
8. Stop and scrape down the bowl and beater again.
9. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a large rubber spatula to give a final mixing to the batter.
10. Divide the batter equally among the paper-lined cavities in the muffin pans.
11. Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes, or until they are well risen and feel firm to the touch. Because this is such a liquid batter, test a muffin with a toothpick or the point if a thin-bladed knife – it should emerge with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
12. Cool the muffins in the pan on a rack.

 
Serving: Perfect for breakfast or brunch, these are good at any time of the day or night.

Storage: Keep the muffins loosely covered with plastic wrap on the day they are baked. Wrap tightly and refrigerate or freeze for longer storage. If chilled or frozen, defrost at room temperature and reheat at 350 degrees for 7 or 8 minutes, and cool before serving.

Tell me about your favorite muffin recipes in the comment field below. Gather will draw one respondent to win a copy of Modern Baker. Comments must be posted by Sunday, November 16^th.

Learn more time-saving techniques for bread, tarts, pies, cakes, and cookies from The Modern Baker. Visit Food.gather.com for more.