Everybody sing, "Do you know the muffin man…." Banana Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins are good!

Before you start thinkin’ how tacky that mug is in this otherwise very attractive photo– I KNOW the mug doesn’t match, but I like it. It’s from a really cool bookstore and it’s my current favorite.

Recipe Rated: BEGINNER EASY*

Anyway, today I had a craving for muffins. Yes that’s a really stupid thing to crave, but what can I say? I just love muffins! They’re just so–I don’t know—versatile comes to mind, right after TASTY! Anybody with half a pantry has muffin mixins, and they’re so easy to make even the baking challenged can usually pull them off. (note: I said usually)

I don’t indulge in muffin baking and eating very often cuz’ the kind I like have calories–lots of calories (as in real butter)–and the POSSIBILITY of even MAYBE thinking about eating something that actually tastes good is all I have to do to instantly gain 5 lbs. Needless to say, I try to keep my guilty cravings (and there are many) at bay. I admit I don’t always succeed, and today was one of those days–I simply lost the battle.

Which was really only half the battle because my craving was very specific. I wanted banana chocolate chip muffins. To my sheer delight, I found what I thought looked like the perfect recipe on the first Google.

I made a quick assessment of ingredients, and to my great disappointment realized I had very little sugar. I decided to improvise–no way was I going to Walmart on Saturday afternoon–especially the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I substituted brown sugar for most of the white sugar.

Then I had a little unanticipated trouble with the mixin’ part. The phone rang and I tried to talk and mix at the same time. Multi-tasking–not my strong suit.

Yes I knew! Everyone knows you don’t mix the sugar in with the dry ingredients–you cream it into the butter and eggs. I couldn’t start over (no more sugar, remember?) so I just pretended it never happened and moved on.

I mashed my bananas. OF COURSE my precise mashed banana calculations turned out to be not so precise. Yes, my nanners fell short-1/2 cup short.

A quick scan of my fridge and pantry and I had a brainstorm -or brain fart-however you want to look at it. Don’t ask me what made me think this would taste good, (Thanksgiving maybe?) but I decided to add canned pumpkin to the bananas. (Pumpkin kind of has the same consistency as bananas doesn’t it?) I dumped it in and convinced myself if I added some cinnamon it would all be okay. How can you go wrong with cinnamon? You can’t.

And guess what? I didn’t go wrong. The muffins were VERY good. So good that I’m including the recipe with my substitutions for your own guilty pleasure. (I’d put the sugar where it goes though–in with the butter and eggs.)

Banana Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 c. white sugar

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1/2 c. (1 stick) melted butter

1/4 c. 2% milk (ya gotta cut back somewhere-besides, that’s all I had in the fridge)

2 eggs

3/4 c. mashed bananas

1/2 c. canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with muffin papers.

2. Sift first 4 ingredients into a large bowl.

3. Combine bananas, pumpkin, both sugars, melted butter, milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.

4. Mix into dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-mix!

5. Fold in chocolate chips.

6. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, fill about 3/4 full.

7. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean (about 20-25 minutes) (10 to 15 minutes for miniature muffins)

8. The recipe said to cool the muffins for 5 min in the pan and then transfer to a platter.

I didn’t do that.

I ate the first one right after I took the pan out. Then I ran a knife around the outer edge of each one and popped ‘em out, eating the second one about 1/2 way through the removal process. I slathered 2 more with real butter and slowly savored them with a cup of blistering hot coffee with cream. (of course, real cream!) Yep, they were good!