Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Muffins

I think when you have kids, they either eat every single banana you have three days after you grocery shop, or you are making multiple loaves of banana bread at the end of the week. Most weeks, our bananas are gone quickly because our littlest guy loves bananas, but finally I have had enough bananas to make these peanut butter chocolate banana muffins! And let me tell you, these are excellent muffins. The muffins themselves are naturally-sweetened with honey and coconut sugar, the only thing that I used with regular sugar in it was the chocolate chips, but you can even find naturally-sweetened versions of those as well if you want. If you don’t have or don’t like peanut butter, you can easily leave off the peanut butter swirl on top as well. Any nut or seed butter will work if you’re accommodating allergies or personal preference!

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Muffins

• First, bananas. You’ll need three large or four medium bananas. This recipe is fairly forgiving, a little over or a little less won’t cause any problems. You’ll want bananas that have lots of spots on them and that are soft. But if the bananas start turning basically liquid like they would if they were frozen and thawed, your muffins may turn out dense and flat.
• Honey and coconut sugar. These are your natural sweeteners. You can also substitute pure maple syrup for the honey.
• Egg. Your binder! I have not tried this recipe with a flax egg.
• Coconut oil. I like using coconut oil in this recipe for the subtle flavor, but olive oil or avocado oil will also work.
• Vanilla extract. A must for just about any baked good!
• Cocoa powder. I almost always use Hershey’s Special Dark unless I need something extra high quality for a recipe.
• Whole wheat flour. To make these banana muffins a tiny bit healthier, we are using whole wheat flour.
• Baking powder and baking soda. Those domed tops! These are key for a nice fluffy muffin.
• Peanut butter. I have tried this recipe with both natural and more processed peanut butters and both will work. I prefer natural peanut butter, but use what you have! Microwave it for a few seconds to make it nice and drippy before drizzling on the muffins.
• Chocolate chips. Is this the most important ingredient? I’m using semi-sweet chocolate chips which are my personal favorite, but you can absolutely use another kind. Milk chocolate? Go for it. What to go extra nutty with peanut butter chips? Another great idea!

How to Make Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Muffins

• First, mash your bananas well! Then add in all your liquid ingredients: honey, egg, coconut oil, and vanilla. You are also going to whisk in your coconut sugar even though it’s a dry ingredient!
• In a separate bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. In some muffin recipes I stick to one bowl, but when I use cocoa powder I like to whisk it to get the lumps out. Your dry ingredients in this banana muffin recipe are whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and coconut sugar.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
• Fold in your chocolate chips, then spray a muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Evenly distribute the batter.
• Microwave your peanut butter fora bout 20-30 seconds to get it smooth and melty. Drizzle it over the muffins and use a toothpick to get some swirls. Top with extra chocolate chips if desired!
• Bake for about 22-25 minutes and let cool for about 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan and diving in!

These chocolate peanut butter banana muffins are the perfect way to use up ripe bananas! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!