Every Recipe Has A Story.

Banana Chocolate Walnut Muffins

With love, honor, and cling-wrap in the time of Covid.

MIX
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup raw cane sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

MASH/WHIP by hand
Three ripe bananas
1 stick unsalted organic butter room temp
1 cup ricotta cheese (substitute equal parts 2% Greek yogurt, sour cream, mascarpone…)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix dry ingredients with wet.

ADD
Mixing thoroughly:
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup Demerara sugar

SCOOP
ice scream scoop fulls of batter into parchment lined muffin tins, making them about 2/3 full.

BAKE
At 375-400 degrees until browned lightly on top and cooked through, just.

MAKES
18 Muffins

empty muffin wrapper. forlorn tasty

The reason these muffins exist in my baking lexicon is because of a bonafide muffin lover, David Voorhis. Husband of my dearest friend Polly, Big Dave stood a slender six four. Polly, 5′ 2″ on a good day, used to say about their height difference: “Everyone meets in the middle.”

Polly was already an editor at Yankee Magazine when I joined the staff. We were always cooking: testing recipes for publication and also trying anything that tickled our fancies, in search of something new. These particular muffins ended up on the magazine’s cutting room floor, with nothing New England about them other than the people that loved them. David loved these muffins as much as I loved him. It was his tastes that pushed me to develop this particular version, laced with maximum banana and dark chocolate. When made with sour cream instead of ricotta, they are more blanched in color.

Ingredient Matters: Demerara sugar is produced from sugarcane and consists of large grains which provide a crunchy texture in baking. It originates from Guyana (formerly Demerara) in South America. However, most Demerara sugar available today comes from Mauritius in Africa. It’s often used as sprinkles to decorate cakes and muffins and can also be added to tea and coffee. It naturally contains a small amount of molasses, which gives it a light brown color and caramel flavor.