Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

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I love chocolate.  If I can make something and somehow make it chocolatey, all the better I say!  I love making banana muffins.  Inevitably, I always have some ripening bananas lying around begging to be used.  Unfortunately, after making plain banana muffins dozens of times, I am kind of bored with the same old same old.  Then I had a brilliant thought.  Add chocolate!  It makes everything better.  I took one of my current  favorite banana muffin recipes, King Arthur Flour's Banana Muffin recipe, and after a nice online chat with one of the bakers there, set out to turn them in to double chocolate banana muffins.  The lovely baker on the other end of the online chat box gave me some measurements for adding cocoa to their recipe, I took it one step further and guiltlessly dumped a whole package of chocolate chips into the batter (I made a double recipe since I had like ten overripe bananas to use, otherwise a half a bag of chocolate chips is called for).

I think these still qualify as a good breakfast food, right?  I mean it has oat bran and bananas, ergo, must be a healthy breakfast food.  Ok, at least a yummy breakfast food.

Enjoy these moist, chocolatey, banana-y muffins.  If you want a finer texture, throw the oat bran in the food processor to make it finer, otherwise it will have a heartier texture to the muffins.  

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins Recipe

Makes approximately 16-20 per batch, depending on how full the muffin cups are.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup yogurt (I used Fage 0% Greek yogurt)
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1/2 snack container natural applesauce (no sugar added) or 1/3 cup*
• 1 1/2 cups mashed banana; 2 to 3 large bananas
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup oat bran (If you don't have this, grind up rolled oats in a food processor)
• 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1/3 cup dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
• 6 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips 

*If you double the recipe, I used 2 Tbs. vegetable oil, and a whole snack size container of applesauce, which is a little less than half a cup.  If you don't have or don't want to use applesauce, use 1/4 oil for a single recipe.  I like the applesauce to cut down on fat and calories, and I can never tell a difference.

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a standard muffin tin, or line with papers and grease the papers.
 2) Combine the yogurt, egg, oil, applesauce, mashed banana, sugar, and oat bran in a bowl. Whisk together and set aside for 10 minutes.
3) Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cocoa.
4) Whisk the banana mixture into the flour mixture.  Mix in chocolate chips. Scoop into the prepared muffin cups, filling them almost full; the muffins won't rise much.
5) Bake the muffins for 20 to 24 minutes, until the muffins are set and browned. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and enjoy warm.