Nigella's Chocolate Banana Muffins
Ingredients
Serves: 12
- 3 very ripe bananas
- 125ml vegetable oil (or light olive oil)
- 2 large eggs
- 100g light brown sugar
- 225g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 3 tbs good quality cocoa powder, sifted
- 50g dark chocolate chips (optional)
Nigella’s Chocolate Banana Muffin recipe appealed to me for two reasons. The first is that I often have overripe bananas that I can’t bear to throw out. The second is that the muffins can be frozen for up to two months which is useful because I probably won’t get through twelve muffins in three days. The proper way to revive the frozen muffins is to defrost them for around three hours and then pop them in an oven for 5-8 minutes. I usually end up heating them on half power in the microwave for a few minutes.
The original recipe doesn’t include chocolate chips but I couldn’t resist adding a few to the batter before baking and I would definitely recommend this.
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan) and line a muffin tin that holds twelve muffins with paper cases.
- Mash the bananas vigorously in a large bowl using a fork, then add the oil, eggs and sugar, mixing well.
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda together and then gently beat into the banana mixture.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, if using.
- Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the muffins have risen and a cake tester comes out relatively clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool a little before transferring them to a wire rack to cool fully.