2 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups flour
1 cup mashed overripe banana
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt, at room temperature (I used 0%)
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3 tablespoons cocoa nibs
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
optional: one sliced banana
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease, spray with baking spray or line 18 wells in a muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the spices, baking powder, cocoa nibs, baking soda, flour and oatmeal. Set aside. In another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the yogurt then add the dry ingredients. Mix to combine. Fold in the mashed banana. Divide evenly into wells. Top each with a slice of banana, if desired. Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the center muffin (but not through a banana slice, go in through an angle) comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
My thoughts:
I am not much for banana flavored things (or overripe bananas for that matter) but my husband likes them so every once in a while I whip up a batch of something banana-y for him (and for which I hope I get some major good wife points because the smell of overripe bananas makes me kind of queasy) to take for breakfasts. Matt said they were the best banana muffins he’s ever had! These muffins ended up being little bit “lighter” than most banana muffins, only 4 tablespoons of butter is divided among 18 muffins! Mashed banana and Greek yogurt add a lot of flavor and moisture and the butter just isn’t missed at all. Matt said using the cocoa nibs was genius, it added chocolate flavor without resorting to chocolate chips so the muffins didn’t taste like dessert.
Note: If you are planning to freeze the muffins, omit the banana slice topping, it can get gummy during the defrosting.
Perfect! I do like banana-y things, and I have just about 3 tbsp of nibs left that I'd like to get rid of (they smell wonderfully intoxicating when I open the glass jar, but they don't do enough in cookies, for how expensive they are)… I hope you get Mega Points. 🙂
They look great! I like the idea of greek yogurt in there — you're right, with that and the bananas, who needs a lot of butter? I just saw cocoa nibs at our grocery store — I was previously under the impression I couldn't find them — so I'm excited to have an excuse to try them out!
I finally made them! I finished up the cocoa nibs, so that was accomplished, but for me I wanted them a little sweeter. Since I only have a 12-well muffin pan, I threw in chocolate chips for the remaining 5 and I liked those better.
So much for weaning myself off of sugar any time soon…
Perfect. I've got some bananas on their way out and a bag of cocoa nibs burning a whole in my spice cupboard. Thanks.