The Art of the Muffin

The Art of the Muffin

I love reading cookbooks late at night ohhing and ahhing over pictures of multi-layered cakes covered  in homespun buttercream frosting and colorful sprinkles. It’s pastry porn and I love it.

50 Shades of Cake Batter, right up in here.

I have hundreds of saved recipes for  cakepops, confetti cakes, lattice pies and berry tarts that I daydream of  making when I magically have time to spend in the kitchen.

Which is never, really.

I have a little boy. A full-time job, I write at night and I do try to have a semi-social life (read: cocktails)

My  big baking days are on hiatus at the moment.

The good news is I’ve become quite the Little Miss Muffin maker.

Much like the cupcake, the muffin is not only cute but it’s also convenient.  Grab. Go. Eat.

You get a compact bite of goodness and if you throw in the right ingredients, you can make them relatively healthy.  I’ve added everything from oatmeal, berries, carrots and zucchini.

Recently I decided to make classic banana muffins from a recipe I found in  Joy of Cooking, I added raisins instead of walnuts and while scavenging  through my cupboard I hit culinary gold and found  dark chocolate. And immediately thought “YES.”

I added just a bit of chocolate …  Come on, Don’t look  at me at that way.

I love this  breakfast muffin, it has antioxidant rich dark chocolate, potassium rich bananas and pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg. You can add walnuts if that’s your thing too and get a boost of protein and vitamin E.

It’s nearly a chocolate supermuffin.

I caught my 18 month old son trying to shove the whole muffin in his mouth, including the wrapper,  so I’m going to assume he loved it too.

Check out the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons of baking power

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of nutmeg

Stir in:

1 cup of raisins

2/3 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts

1/2 cup of dark chocolate mini chips

Whisk together in a large bowl:

1 large egg

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/3 cups mashed banana (2 to 3)

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Add the flour mixture and fold just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over mix, the batter should not be smooth.Bake until a toothpick inserted in 1 or 2 of the muffin cups comes out clean. 14 to 16 minutes.

 *Adapted from Joy of Cooking