Does anyone else love to bake with bananas, but hate to eat them plain? I used to always pilfer the sad, decaying bananas my roommates purchased for baked goods, but my current household is usually banana-free and I always forget to buy bananas to let them go bad. Tragically this almost caused me to forget about these muffins, which should be hard because they are most definitely my favorite muffins. They are equally wholesome and delicious, and almost pair better with coffee than chocolate chip cookies (but I haven’t reached the point of accepting those for breakfast quite yet). Or the excellent other half to a smoothie breakfast (which is never filling enough for me).

Whole Wheat Chocolate Coffee Banana Muffins

Adapted from The Vanilla Bean Blog

This makes a lot of muffins. They freeze so well though, with just a quick warming in the microwave before consuming. Yes, they are entirely wheat flour, but light enough that you will never notice. I haven’t experimented with other kinds of flour yet, but it will happen. It may seem like a lot of liquid, but the wheat flour sucks it right up.

20-22 muffins

• 2 1/4 (9 oz) cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3/4 cup canola or olive oil
• 1 cup banana mashed (I usually mash 2 and don’t fret if it’s a bit over or under)
• 1/4 cup coffee
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 (1.75 oz) cup sugar
• 5 oz semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin tin and a half (or bake in two batches if you only have one muffin tin like me).

Whisk wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk the oil, milk, mashed banana, coffee, vanilla, maple syrup, sugar, and egg (easiest in a quart measuring cup, or measure and transfer to a bowl). Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir until just combined (don’t overmix!). Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each cup about three quarters full. Bake for 16-20 minutes, testing with a knife for doneness (it should come out clean, unless you spear a chocolate chip).