Chocolate Banana Muffins with Cacao Nibs

I bought some organic cacao nibs for smoothie bowls, and I thought it would be a great idea to incorporate them into muffins!

I made Chocolate Banana Muffins with apple bananas and Malama Mushroom's Lion's Mane Cacao Mix, and they turned out yummy!  It's a fun breakfast treat, snack, or even dessert!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

• 6 T butter, melted
• 3/4 c dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 3 apple bananas, mashed
• 1 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c Malama Mushroom's Lion's Mane Cacao Mix (or can substitute cocoa powder)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 c semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 c organic cacao nibs (for topping)

Directions: 

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• In a large bowl, mix together sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla.
• Mix in mashed bananas.
• Mix in flour, cacao mix, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, being careful not to overmix. 
• Mix in chocolate chips. 
• Scoop evenly into prepared muffin tin.
• Top with organic cacao nibs.  
• Bake for approximately 15-17 minutes. 

You can find the original recipe here on Show Me the Yummy.  

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Foodland's Lilikoi Corn Muffin Mix

I've tried my fare share of cornbread mixes, but they all seemed to turn out dry and flavorless.  When I saw Foodland come out with a Lilikoi corn muffin mix, I just had try it.  How could I not, when two of my favorite things - cornbread and lilikoi, are combined into one product?

The corn muffins were easy to make - just combine the ingredients (eggs, water, oil, and the mix), fill a muffin pan, and enjoy the aroma of fresh baked cornbread while they're baking in the oven.

Right after you remove them from the oven, brush the top of each muffin with Lilikoi sauce, and brush again after the muffins have cooled.

One package yields 12 irresistible lilikoi flavored corn muffins!

 

You can find this mix at select Foodland stores, including Kahala MKT, where I purchased this mix.

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Recipe: Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

It's been a while since I've been inspired to bake banana muffins or banana bread with extra ripe bananas. But when the mini saw our bananas getting black in color, he asked if we were going to make banana muffins, and I said "sure, if you're going to help me".  And sure enough, he washed his hands, put on his toque, stepped up to the counter to start mashing the bananas.

I went to all recipes.com and searched for a banana muffin recipe. I decided to this this one called "Banana Muffins II", since it had an average of 5 stars based on  over 4,000 reviews. Yep, that's how I select my recipes! I also scan the ingredients list to make sure it doesn't require a whole lot of ingredients or steps, and to make sure that I have everything on hand.

This recipe called for the usual ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, 3 large bananas, one egg, sugar, and melted butter. 

We added our own mini chocolate chips, because we love chocolate chips!

The recipe yielded exactly 12 muffins, deliciously moist! 

Here's the recipe from allrecipes.com:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 3 large bananas, mashed
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• ⅓ cup butter, melted

Directions:

• preheat oven to 350 degrees
• melt butter
• sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in one bowl
• combine mashed bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter in another bowl
• gradually add the flour mixture to the mashed banana mixture, stir until smooth
• fold in chocolate chips (optional)
• fill muffin pan (lined with paper liners or greased) about half way
• bake approximately 20-25 minutes (for regular sized muffins)

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Recipe: Microwave Blueberry Muffins

Here's another great recipe from Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami that I made on the spur of the moment one weekday morning. It calls for standard baking ingredients and the whole process takes less than 10 minutes!

Ingredients for the batter:

• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 cup fresh  blueberries

Ingredients for the topping:

• 1 tablespoon butter, cold, and chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 2 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine ingredients for the batter (except blueberries) in a bowl and mix well. Add the blueberries. 

In a separate bowl, mix the ingredients for the topping with a fork.  

Sprinkle the topping onto the batter.  Cook in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Enjoy!

I actually separated my batter into two bowls because I wanted to make for  myself and one for my son, and it turned out to be the perfect size for two.  

Thanks Mayor Kawakami for posting this recipe on your Instagram page!

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Clementine and Cranberry Muffins

We buy clementines from the local warehouse club store, and I often find myself finding ways to use them up before they all go bad.

With a half-full bag of clementines still in the fridge, I decided to make Clementine and Cranberry Muffins.  It was a great way to not only use up clementines, but also to clean out the pantry!

I love making mini muffins for afterschool snacks, so I tweaked the original recipe a bit.  They came out tasty!

Ingredient

Clementine and Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 c flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup soy milk
• 8 clementines,blended
• 1/4 c vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 1/2 c dried cranberries + more for sprinkling
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts + more for sprinkling

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. 
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.  
• In a separate bowl whisk egg, milk, blended clementines, oil, and vanilla.
• Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients just until moistened. 
• Mix in cranberries.
• Scoop into prepared mini muffin tins.   
• Sprinkle with dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. 
• Bake for 11-13 minutes.  

You can find the original recipe here on Cuties Citrus.

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Banana Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

With overripe bananas on hand (again!), I decided to make some muffins - Banana Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins!  I found a recipe for banana cream cheese muffins, and decided to throw in some chocolate chips (because chocolate makes everything better!).

It was such a yummy treat - moist and delicious!

Banana Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

Bread

• 1 egg
• ½ c brown sugar
• ¼ c sugar
• ½ c butter, softened
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 2 bananas, mashed
• 1 c flour
• ½ t baking soda
• ½ tn baking powder
• 1 c chocolate chips

Filling

• 1 egg
• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 c sugar
• 3 T flour

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Combine egg, sugars, butter, and vanilla in a bowl.
• Add in bananas.
• Stir in flour, baking powder, and baking soda. 
• Mix in chocolate chips.
• In a separate bowl, mix together egg, cream cheese, sugar, and flour.
• In a prepared muffin tin, scoop bread batter into each cup, top with a scoop of cream cheese filling, then top with more bread batter.  
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.

You can find the original recipe here on Tasty.

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Mini Muffins Recipe

My mission was to bake a semi-healthy breakfast item that the kids could eat for breakfast on the go.  I know breakfast on the go isn't optimal, but when your daughter is more focused on fixing her hair than eating breakfast and you don't want her to be tardy, you make do with the best of intentions.

I found a really great Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffin recipe here by Little Sweet Baker.  I decided to make a variety of mini muffins so I split the batter and added a mixture of chocolate chips, nuts, blueberries, and even black sesame.  I even sprinkled a couple with Garden of Life Super Seed - a blend of seeds, grains and legumes that tastes a bit like cinnamon.

Since they were mini muffins, I baked at 400 degrees and kept a close eye on them.  They baked well at 10-12 minutes.  I love my muffins golden and crispy and these came out perfect! 
 

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Spinach Banana Muffins

A friend of mine recently posted a picture of spinach muffins on Instagram, and she sent me the recipe from Green Forks so I could give it a try too.

I made both mini muffins and regular muffins with slight adaptations to the recipe, and they turned out delicious!

I could taste the spinach, but my kids could not.  My friend called them "Hulk" muffins, so I called them that too since my kids love all things Marvel.  They loved the muffins!

Although I slipped a couple times saying they were "spinach muffins," I don't dare tell the kids that spinach is inside the Hulk muffins.

They taste like bananas, are really delicious, and they make a great afterschool snack!

Spinach Banana Muffins (recipe slightly adapted from Green Forks)

Ingredients:

• 2 c flour
• ¾ c sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• ½ t baking soda
• 1½ t ground cinnamon
• ½ t salt
• ¼ c vegetable oil
• ¾ c milk (I used rice milk)
• 1 c fresh spinach
• 3 bananas 
• 2 t pure vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. 
• In a blender, combine oil, milk, spinach, bananas, and vanilla until pureed.
• Pour puréed mixture into dry mixture and combine.
• Fill prepared muffin cups about ⅔ full and bake 18-20 minutes (9-11 minutes for mini muffins).  

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To Die For Blueberry Muffins Recipe

We always have fresh blueberries in the fridge. We eat it with cottage cheese, yogurt, by itself, and most recently I used for my Summer Berry Cheesecake Pie. It never dawned on me to make homemade blueberry muffins with it until now.

I found a very simple blueberry muffin recipe on allrecipes.com. I chose this particular recipe because it included a crumb topping that adds a lot of flavor and texture to the muffins. To make the muffins, simple combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls, mix them together, fold in the blueberries, and then pour the batter into your muffin pan with liners. Sprinkle the crumb mixture on top and bake for 20 minutes.  The original recipe yields 6 muffins. If you need more, simply change the serving size on the website. That's one of the things that I love about the allrecipes.com website.

Click HERE to go to the recipe page. 

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Mango Muffins Recipe

Remember that mango bread recipe I recently posted?  With a couple of tweaks I made mango muffins.  Despite the fact there are raisins in the muffins, my middle son (my very picky eater who despises raisins) loved them and keeps asking for them.

Mango Muffins (recipe adapted from Allrecipes):

Ingredients:

• 2 c flour
• 2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 ts ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 c sugar 
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 3 c peeled, seeded and chopped mango
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Directions:

• Spray mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  
• In a separate large bowl, mix the butter, oil and sugar until fluffy. 
• Stir in eggs one at a time.
• Stir in vanilla.  
• Combine wet mixture with the flour mixture.  
• Fold in the mango, raisins, and coconut
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). 
• Bake in preheated oven for approximately 10 minutes.

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