Second Adventure in Green Tea Cupcakes

This week I tried the Green Tea Cupcakes recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, since I still had some matcha powder that I wanted to use up. The green tea flavor is intense--you must be a serious green tea lover--but I thought that they turned out great. The cake, like all the cupcakes from this cookbook, is so moist, and, also like all the cupcakes in this book, is ready in a flash (Everything I've made from this cookbook has been essentially a one-bowl cupcake). The glaze was perfect, too, although I added more rice milk to the recipe because I really wanted a glaze--not a frosting--since I knew the perils of a too-thick frosting on a delicate green tea cupcake. The only thing that would have taken longer would be if I had made the pretty little fondant flowers that they made in the cookbook, which, needless to say, I did not do. Instead, I toasted slivered almonds and arranged them three of them in the center of each cupcake--it looked cute (picture forthcoming).

Vegan Green Tea Cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World)

Toast slivered almonds for about 4-5 minutes at 375, shaking the pan halfway through.
Lower the heat to 350. Line muffin tins.

In a large bowl, whisk together:
½ C soy yogurt
2/3 C rice milk
¼ t vanilla extract
1/3 C canola oil
½ t almond extract

Beat well to blend in yogurt.

Sift in:
1 ¼ C flour
1 t baking powder
¼ t baking soda
3-4 t matcha powder
¼ t salt
¾ C sugar

Beat a little longer to break up any large lumps.
Fill liners 2/3 full and bake 20 min.

Green Tea Glaze
With a fork, beat 2 T margarine to a fluff.
Mix in 1 C confectioners' sugar and 1/8 to ¼ t matcha powder to form a crumbly texture.
Slowly beat in 1 T rice milk, ¼ t almond extract, and a drop of vanilla extract. If icing is too thick, pour in an additional teaspoon of rice milk. (I added probably 2 or 3 more teaspoons of rice milk.)

Adventures in . . . Disaster

This week I made Mexican "hot" chocolate cupcakes, which I found in an article from the Chicago Tribune (Aug. 15, 2007). The recipe comes from Stephanie Samuels of Angel Food Bakery (never heard of it, but okay). I love mexican hot chocolate, so I thought I'd give the recipe a whirl.

I should have seen the warning signs. A mexican hot chocolate cupcake recipe that doesn't call for actual mexican chocolate? That's odd. A chocolate ganache that you add corn syrup to? corn syrup? That's gross. Plus, melting chocolate in the microwave? really? And then there were the bigger, glaring signs that I somehow ignored: a recipe that calls for 3 cups flour, 3 cups sugar, an entire container of sour cream, and yet says it yields only 18 cupcakes? Now that is just a lie. And for the final problem with this recipe: it said to bake the cupcakes for 15-18 minutes on 325 degrees. This is very strange, since almost all cupcakes bake on 350 for 20-24 minutes. And I did not want molten chocolate cakes--I wanted cupcakes.

Despite all the warning signs that there was something wrong with this recipe, I tried it anyway. It turned out okay. The big problem is the number of cupcakes it makes--I made 24 overflowing muffiny ones plus 24 minis (all of which sank) plus had a few cups of cupcake batter left (it was enough already). This recipe needs to be chopped in half, first of all. I baked them at 325 for what ended up being, oh, 30 minutes, and even then the toothpick never came out clean. Okay, so maybe these cupcakes aren't the kind that you can test that way. Either way, I would suggest hitting the temperature up to 350 and cooking for at least 20 minutes, unless you want something that more closely resembles soup.

Then I don't know what to say about the frostings. Definitely ditch the chocolate ganache recipe and use a standard one. Plus I just think making 2 frostings and piling them on top of each other is total overkill. On the one hand, these cupcakes were sort of gross. On the other hand, they were sort of gross in a good way . . . .

Well here's the recipe, most of which I wouldn't follow:

Mexican "hot" Chocolate Cupcakes

Get a mug of hot coffee (need 1 ½ C). Heat oven to 325. Line muffin tins.

In a microwave-safe bowl, put:
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 ½ sticks butter
Heat in microwave for 30-second intervals, stirring between intervals, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine in a large bowl:
3 C sugar
3 eggs
Beat with mixer on low speed.
Slowly beat in chocolate-butter mixture. Stir in sour cream; set aside.

Combine in a medium bowl:
3 C flour
1 ½ t baking powder
1 ½ t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
¾ t salt

Okay, now it's time to put it all together. Beat in dry ingredients alternately with the 1 ½ C coffee to the chocolate mixture—dry/coffee/dry/coffee/dry.

Fill tins ¾ full; bake 15-18 minutes.

Frosting:
Beat 2 sticks butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy.
Beat in 1 box (1 lb) confectioners' sugar and 2 t cinnamon until smooth. Beat in 1 t vanilla and set aside.
[I forgot to mention this in my earlier rant, but this frosting recipe is missing a key ingredient--anything to make this not just a huge lump of unmoveable frosting. I added a few tablespoons of whipping cream, since I had it on hand for the chocolate glaze anyway. It was still too thick to spread, so you have to pipe it.]

Spicy Chocolate Glaze:
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 8 oz bittersweet chocolate and ½ C whipping cream.
Heat in 30-second intervals until chocolate has just melted, about 2 minutes.
Whisk in:
2 T unsalted butter
1 T corn syrup
1/8 t ground red pepper
1/8 t cinnamon

Let glaze cool slightly. Spread frosting on cupcakes. Dip tops into glaze. Refrigerate to set, about 30 minutes (I never put cupcakes in the refrigerator; it screws up the consistency.)

Adventures in . . . Chocolate Cabernet Cupcakes

I found these cupcakes on "iVillage." It's a recipe from one Martha Vining. I added a standard chocolate ganache, because what is a cupcake without frosting?

These were pretty good, and they had a perfect round top. I don't think I would make them again, though; they could definitely have been more moist.

Chocolate with Cabernet Cupcakes: (I made 12 regular size + maybe 12 or so minis)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup cabernet sauvignon
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare muffin pans with white paper baking cups.
2. Into the large bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder.
3. Add the oil, vanilla, eggs and wine.
4. Beat with the electric mixer at low speed for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer speed to high and continue beating for three minutes, scraping the sides occasionally.
5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the dried cherries. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pans. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.


Chocolate Ganache: (this made more than I could use)
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 C half-and-half
2 T unsalted butter

Place chocolate in stainless stell bowl. Heat cream and butter in saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk.

Adventures in . . . Vegan Margarita Cupcakes

On the last day of classes, I had a party called "Death by Alcohol." It was a sort of twisted parody of the party that the college throws at the end of fall semester called "Death by Chocolate." I made all alcoholic cupcakes, including these Margarita Cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. (They are the ones sort of in the back, with a sugared rim.) Something was weird with the consistency--maybe they were underbaked? maybe this is just vegan weirdness? Either way, like all the recipes I've tried from Vegan Cupcakes . . . they took about 10 seconds to make (I had squeezed the lime juice already to make something else), and the frosting was really the best part--wow.

Mucho Margarita Cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins.
In large bowl, beat together:
1/4 C freshly squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 t finely grated lime zest
1 C rice milk
1/4 C canola oil
2 T tequila
1/2 t vanilla extract
3/4 C sugar

Sift in:
1 1/3 C flour
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Mix until batter is smooth. Fill liners 3/4 of the way, and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Margarita Icing (YUM!):
Blend 1/4 C margarine (softened) with a fork till soft and fluffy, then stir in:
1 T rice milk
3 T lime juice
1 T tequila
a very tiny drop of green food coloring

(at this point, all I had was a glob of margarine and a liquidy puddle, but I soldiered on, and it turned out great.)

Sift in 2 C confectioners' sugar and blend with an electric mixer on low speed until creamy and smooth. Then attempt to roll the cupcake edges in sugar to give the margarita look (I sort of failed at this.).

Adventures in . . . Guinness Gingerbread Cranberry Cupcakes

This recipe comes from the blog dessert-lounge.blogspot.com. Cut + paste the url to see the original recipe + photo:
http://dessert-lounge.blogspot.com/2007/11/guiness-ginger-cranberry-cupcakes-with.html

These cupcakes were gorgeous, but I wouldn't make them again. For one thing, they took forever to make, and for another, they didn't have the greatest texture: the tops got sort of hard and chewy (maybe I overbaked them?).

Guinness Gingerbread and Cranberry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcake:
1 C Guinness
1 C molasses
1 1/2 t baking soda
2 C flour
2 T ground ginger
1 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/8 t ground cardamom
3 large eggs
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar (packed)
3/4 C vegetable oil
3 C fresh cranberries (this is a lot of cranberries! i might have put fewer in)

Candied Cranberries:
1 1/2 C water
1/2 C sugar plus more for rolling
1 C fresh cranberries

Cream Cheese Frosting--I used the recipe from Ina's Coconut Cupcakes w/o the almond extract--see below.

To make candied cranberries: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, dissolve sugar into 1 1/2 C water. Lower heat to barely a simmer. Add cranberries and simmer for 5 minutes, or until softened. Remove from heat and strain cranberries. Discard liquid. When cranberries are cool enough to handle, roll in granulated sugar. Place on waxed paper.

To make cupcakes: Heat oven to 350. Line muffin tins.
Bring stout and molasses to boil in heavy medium saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. Let stand 45 minutes to 1 hr to cool completely.
Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in large bowl to blend.
Whisk eggs and both sugars in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in oil, then stout mixture.
Gradually whisk stout-egg mixture into flour mixture. Stir in fresh cranberries.

Fill tins 2/3 full and bake for 20-25 minutes. Frost with cream cheese frosting and garnish with candied cranberries.

Adventures in . . . Vegan Apricot Almond Cupcakes

Today I tried 2 recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. It is an amazing cookbook, and I can't wait to try every recipe in it. These first two did not dissapoint. They were ready in a flash (no eggs and butter to cream), and they came out perfectly. I was skeptical because the batter was much more liquid-y than that of non-vegan cupcakes, but fear not!

Apricot-Glazed Almond Cupcakes (makes 12)

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tin.
In large bowl, combine:
1/3 C canola oil
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C soy yogurt (sort of yicky, but I tried not to look at it!)
2/3 C almond milk
1 t vanilla extract
2 t almond extract

Sift into that same bowl:
1 C + 2 T all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Mix until batter is smooth.

Add:
1/3 C almond meal + mix until combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full.

Then this is the fun part: "Using a 1/2 t masuring spoon, add apricot preserves to the center of each cupcake. Tap lightly on the preserves to get them mostly level with the cupcake batter." (p. 89)

I baked them for 24 minutes. They will still look very light (they won't get golden), but they were definitely ready.

Apricot Glaze:
Boil 1/3 C apricot preserves and 1 T water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. (This is slightly less apricot preserves than the cookbook recommends, but I think it was all that the cupcakes needed.) Bring to a boil, stirring often. Boil for a minute. Turn the heat off and stir the glaze for another 30 seconds.

I used a flat wooden spoon to apply a small amount of glaze to the tops of the cupcakes, and then I put a layer of slivered almonds on top.

Adventures in . . . Vegan Peanut Butter Cupcakes

This recipe also comes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World. It is fantastic--very moist and tasty! Using chunky peanut butter gives the cupcakes a great texture.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache (makes 13--If you make only 12, some will be a little bit muffin-y).

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins.

In a measuring cup, mix:
3/4 C soy milk
2 t apple cider vinegar

In a large mixing bowl, cream:
1/2 C natural chunky peanut butter
1/3 C canola oil
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 T dark molasses
1 t vanilla extract
2 t ground flaxseed

Add soy milk mixture + mix until combined.

Sift into the big bowl:
1 C + 2 T all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

Mix until just combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. I baked them for 23 minutes.

Vegan Chocolate Ganache
Bring 1/4 C soy milk to a gentle boil in a small sauce pan. Remove from heat and add 4 oz semisweet chocolate chips and 2 T pure maple syrup. Stil until fully melted and smooth.

Top with chopped peanuts!

Adventures in . . . Perfection

Ina Garten's Coconut Cupcakes are just perfection. Pictured above in mini form.

Here's the recipe, adapted to make 12 cupcakes + a handful of minis:

Preheat oven to 350. Remove 3 sticks butter, 3 eggs, ½ C buttermilk, and ½ package cream cheese from fridge. Line muffin pans.

Sift:
1 ½ C flour
½ t baking powder
½ t baking soda
¼ t salt

In another bowl:
Beat 1 ½ sticks butter and 1 C sugar on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Reduce speed to low; add 3 eggs, one at a time, scraping sides of bowl after each addition.
Add ¾ t vanilla extract and ¾ t almond extract.
Beat well until blended.

Add dry ingredients alternately with ½ C buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. [dry ingredients, buttermilk, dry ingredients, buttermilk, dry ingredients.] Beat just until blended after each addition.

Add 3 ½ oz coconut, and beat until blended. Scoop into tins. Bake for 25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

Beat:
4 oz (1/2 package) cream cheese, softened
6 T butter, softened
¼ t vanilla extract
1/8 t almond extract

Gradually add:
about 1 2/3 C powdered sugar, sifted

Adventures in . . . Icky

These Green Tea (Matcha) Cupcakes sure are beautiful. Too bad they made me want to vomit. The recipe was from chokylit's cupcake blog, which I now am promising myself I will never test recipes from again. Yick!

Adventures in . . . Fame!

Adventures in . . . Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

I tried to capture the essence of "fall" in this photo, but it didn't really work out. Oh well, the cupcake looks good!

Let me start out by saying that I hate everything pumpkin. I hate pumpkin pie, I hate pumpkin seeds, I hate anything with the word pumpkin anywhere near it. And, all of that being true, these are the best cupcakes I've made so far. They are so unbelievably delicious and moist. The pumpkin flavor is subtle and tasty.

I've started writing out recipes in a way that I find much more helpful--since I never measure out ingredients beforehand, this way I don't have to keep looking back to the ingredients list. This recipe is from Country Living, but I found a different frosting to pair with it. It makes A LOT of cupcakes. The recipe didn't say how many, and it made 24 regular size ones and 16 minis. I frosted them with a Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting that was pretty good, and then I grated some bittersweet Scharffen Berger Chocolate on top--I know, excessive.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 375. Remove 3 sticks butter, 1 package cream cheese, 5 eggs, and 3/4 C buttermilk from fridge. Line pans.

In large bowl, sift:
2 1/2 C + 2 T flour
1 C + 2 T cocoa
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
2 1/4 t ground cinnamon
3/4 t ground nutmeg

In medium bowl, combine:
3/4 C buttermilk
1 1/2 C pumpkin purée
1 ½ t vanilla

In another large bowl, mix on medium speed:
2 1/4 sticks butter
1 1/2 C dark brown sugar
1 1/2 C sugar

Add 5 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is smooth and light.

Alternately add the dry mix and the wet mix, blending well after each addition.

Scoop ¼ C batter into each cup. Bake for 22 minutes.

Here's a close-up:


Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
In medium bowl, beat together:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick + 1 T unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 C powdered sugar
1/4 t vanilla
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground nutmeg

Second Adventure in Choco Chai Cupcakes

Today is the day! My Choco Chai Cupcakes débuted at the Motley exactly 46 minutes ago! I am nervous that nobody will buy them. If you bought one and then came on this blog to comment about it, please let me know what you think!

Here's a blurry : ( picture of the cupcakes in their display case.


One of the managers made this fabulous sign:


I altered the recipe a bit from my first "adventure," using a variation on the Magnolia chocolate cupcake recipe instead of Ina Garten's. The Magnolia recipe is richer and yummier, I think because it uses melted chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I also added more eggs.

Here's the recipe I came up with:

Julia's Choco Chai Cupcakes

2 C all-purpose flour
1 t baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 C sugar
1 C packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temp
6 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 C buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
2 t chai spice mix* (see the post below)

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers. Melt chocolate (I just did this on a burner). In a small bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and chai spice mix. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add the two sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (I tried to beat for 30 seconds between each egg, but I usually got lazy and stopped after, like, 15 seconds). Add the chocolate, mixing well until incorporated. Then the recipe said to "add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat." As usual, I just sort of threw all that stuff in. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full (I use an ice-cream scoop for this). Bake for 20-25 minutes (since I was using an oven from, like, 1955, I had to bake for closer to 28 minutes), or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool and frost with chai frosting, the recipe for which is in the post below. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes. The recipe for the frosting only makes 12, so double it.

Adventures in . . . Choco Chai Cupcakes

Two of my favorite things--cupcakes and the Jesuit Relations!

I made these cupcakes using Ina Garten's recipe for chocolate cupcakes and adding a chai frosting created by Chokylit, who, like, invented cupcake blogs. The choco cupcakes were originally supposed to go with Peanut Butter frosting, but that sounds gross.

Ina's Chocolate Cupcakes:
12 T unsalted butter, at room temp
2/3 C granulated sugar
2/3 C light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temp
2 t vanilla extract
1 C buttermilk, shaken, at room temp
1/2 C sour cream, at room temp
2 T brewed coffee
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 C good unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pans with liners. Cream butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approx. 5 min. Lower speed to medium, add eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture (I wasn't sure what this meant, so I just threw it all in together.). Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.
Divide the batter among the pans and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Chokylit's Chai Frosting (slightly modified)
1/2 C butter
2 1/2 C powdered sugar, sifted
1/8 C milk
1 1/2 t chai spice mix*
1 t minced fresh ginger (I omitted this due to laziness)

Beat butter until creamy. Scrape bowl. Add 2 C sifted powdered sugar, milk, spice mix, and ginger. Beat until combined. Add more powdered sugar as needed to get piping consistency.

* Chokylit's Chai Spice Mix (again, modified, and this is way more than you could possibly use in the frosting, but I am going to keep it and just look at it):
1 t fennel seeds, (I spent valuable hours of my life grinding up fennel seeds by hand)
1 t cloves, ground
1 1/2 t cardamom, ground
1 t cinnamon, ground
1 t ginger, ground

Mix it all together.

Adventures In . . . Choco Banana Cupcakes

I made these by combining two recipes: a banana cupcake recipe I found on-line and the recipe for Sprinkles (the LA cupcake chain) Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting. They were delish although I think that the chocolate frosting could have been sweeter. The secret ingredient for both the cupcakes and the frosting is sour cream (ick!); I don't know why.

Banana Cupcakes:
2 bananas, mashed
1 stick butter
1 C sugar
2 eggs
2 C flour, sifted
1 t baking soda
1/2 C sour cream
1 t vanilla

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and keep mixing. Add sour cream, flour, and baking soda and mix a little. Add vanilla and bananas and mix just a teeny bit. Bake 20 minutes at 350.

Sprinkles Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Frosting (Warning: Like the Chai frosting, this makes almost twice as much as you'd want to use for the banana cupcake recipe):
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 lb. butter
3/4 lb. powdered sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 t vanilla
1/4 C sour cream

Melt and cool chocolate (until just slightly warm). Beat butter until light and fluffy. With mixer on low speed, gradually add powdered sugar. Add salt, vanilla, and sour cream, and mix until very smooth. Add chocolate and mix until just incorporated.

Adventures In . . . Maple Walnut Cupcakes

Yesterday I made these Maple Walnut Cupcakes, which are from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. I found the recipe on-line at "Culinary in the Country," which is a blog where this guy (multiple people?) posts about what he cooks each day. Here's the link to the recipe: http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2005/05/maple-walnut-cupcakes-with-candied.html

It is a very impressive site. The cupcakes, I must say, were not. They were very "Martha"--light, pretty, but generally lacking in flavor. The frosting (which was just maple syrup, butter, and eggs) was light and fluffy but quite bland. I didn't bother making caramelized walnuts because I wasn't too thrilled with the recipe. The one nice thing about the cupcakes was their texture--there are toasted walnuts baked into the fluffy cupcakes, which really worked out well. I think that cupcakes should be sweet--this was more of a cross between a muffin and cupcake, and although the cupcakes tasted fine, they're not my favorite.

Adventures in . . . Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Today I made chocolate chip banana muffins from a recipe from epicurious.com. I think the people who write into epicurious are hilarious, and mostly I just enjoy reading their psychotic reviews of recipes. I decided to take some of their less risky advice for alterations for the recipe and see whether it made any difference. I think I tested too many variables at a time, because I can't tell what caused what.
Here's the recipe:
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
2/3 C sugar
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/3 t salf
1 C mashed ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/2 C unsalted butter, melted
1/4 C milk
3/4 C semisweet choco chips

Oven 350. Line muffin tin. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, + salt. Mix bananas, egg, melted butter, + milk. Stir wet mix into dry mix until just blended. Stir in choco chips. Fill cups 3/4 full. Bake approx. 30 min.

In my first variation, I added baking soda (1/2 t). In my second variation, I added 1/2 t cinnamon and 1 t vanilla.


The muffin on the left has baking soda; the muffin on the right has vanilla and cinnamon. You can't tell from the picture, but the one on the left is much prettier--it has a nicer color (more golden). It also peeled away from the paper easier, although both peeled just fine. The cinnamon flavor is nice, though. I don't know what difference the vanilla made, or what accounts for the nicer color.

I think this recipe is pretty good--the muffins are moist yet fluffy--but it's nothing special. I'm interested in finding a kick-ass banana muffin recipe . . .