Dark Chocolate Banana Swirl Muffins
Short and sweet today..after two macaron-making sessions in the last week, I have been craving an easy recipe. You know- something that you just basically stir together and bake. These muffins are easy as pie to make, little mess, no mixer needed and I didn’t have to separate a single egg. If you saw my kitchen after “Macaron mayhem” as I like to call it- you’d understand why I loved making these so much.
Ever since making Marble Pound Cake I’ve loved the idea of swirling a dark chocolate batter into my favorite Banana Muffin recipe to see what happened. The end result- was my new favorite muffin! Full of banana flavor with a twist of dark chocolate and a few melty chocolate chips on top. Not the healthiest breakfast maybe- but it has fruit so its totally OK. Right?
I used dark valharona cocoa powder in these, and I highly recommend picking some up before making them. Regular cocoa powder *may* be OK, but I’m really not sure of how it will react with the leaveners in the recipe. To be safe- get some dark chocolate good stuff!!
PS- Did you know you can ripen bananas in the oven? I wanted some really brown almost mushy bananas for this, and mine were pretty yellow to start. Just preheat the oven to 250- and bake bananas for about 30-60 minutes, keeping an eye on them in case it takes less time.
Dark Chocolate Banana Swirl Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons boiling water
- chocolate chips for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Lightly grease 12 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers.
- In a bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and baking soda
- In a large bowl, mix together bananas, sugars, egg and oil, and vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture into the banana mixture just until moistened.
- Spoon 1/3 of the muffin batter into another bowl. Stir the cocoa powder and boiling water together until smooth, and then stir the cocoa mixture into the batter that you set aside.
- Spoon a dollop of regular into each muffin well- just enough to cover the bottom. Follow with a dollop of chocolate batter, another small spoon of regular and then a small little spoon of chocolate, filling to a maximum of 3/4 of the way.
- Use a toothpick or skewer to swirl all the batter together, and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
One of my favorite summer time things ever is sliting open a banana skin, and stuffing squares of dark chocolate in alongside the banana, before BBQ’ing it – SO good. Dark chocolate and banana are amazing together. Therefore this recipe looks scrummy and I am definitely trying it!
Thanks!
Leah x
Dark chocolate and banana are a match made in heaven. I love these, Audra!
Is there any better start to a rainy Friday than these muffins?!! I have some over-ripe bananas just waiting to check smashed with some chocolate and baked!
Oh, I SO love muffins and am always looking for new flavor combinations! I’m not really a dark-chocolate lover but these look so good that I think I should give them a go! Oh, and thanks for the tip about bananas ripened in the oven…I totally didn’t know about it!
xo, Elisa
Yum, that’s my kind of breakfast Audra! I’ve made marbled a muffin batter before, such a great idea! Oh, and the banana in the oven trick is the best. You can even do it at a higher temp if you’re short on time :)
these look great audra. and i really like them so pretty without the paper cups! didnt know about the ripening. i think i will make these TODAY for my boys. love love love your blog so much. thanks for the constant inspiration!
I just made my own batch, and you were right it is super fast putting them together and even faster making them disappear lol :-) My only complaint is that my dough was a bit too thick and the layers didn’t mix well, I have a little swirl on top and a dark brown level in the middle. But they are delicious, thank you!
Wow you are fast!
Sorry you had problems swirling the batter. I didn’t have any problems, but maybe using a butter knife would be better!
Lol I was just looking for some dessert recipe with bananas when your post went live, so it was perfect timing :-D
Chocolate and bananas–the best combination! Making these for breakfast tomorrow!
Oh, yes! These look so scrumptious and I love how easy they are. Great recipe, Audra. Have a fabulous weekend!
That is SO good to know about the bananas! I never seem to have brown enough ones when I want them. I love the dark chocolate swirl in these…so good for a little bit of indulgence at breakfast!
I love how easy muffins are and the marble effect makes them seem “special.” And I always love the combination of chocolate and banana!
I love chocolate and banana together! It’s awesome that this comes together so quickly! I love the tip about ripening bananas. I always have a ton on hand but whenever I’m in the mood to bake with them, they’re never over-ripe! haha
Swirling cookies and cakes always look special! Chocolate banana sounds delicious. :)
These look so delicious and I love the swirls!
Easy is always good. These mufins look delish!
Gorgeous! I made chocolate banana muffins a couple weeks ago and am posting them next week! LOVE that you added chocolate chips to yours. Delicious!!
I made these with regular cocoa powder and they came out great! Really soft and moist, thanks for the recipe. PS – the 1/2 tsp salt is in the ingredients list but missing from the instructions.
The muffins were soft and fluffy, and had such pretty swirls. So easy to make too! Thanks for sharing.
Tasty!
I will say I only left mine in for 17 minutes and they were totally overcooked/got really brown all around.