Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Muffins

I just pulled these muffins out of the oven and they are delicious! Warm, moist banana bread muffins with walnut chunks and melted dark chocolate with a crumbly cinnamon muffin top... so good in my mouth! It is going down extremely well with my fresh cup of French roast. 

I find inspiration for a lot of recipes on allrecipes.com and this is no exception. I found this recipe last week and decided to put it on the to-do list for this weekend. I modified it by adding chocolate chips (because banana bread is just not the same without it) and walnuts (because they go so well with banana and chocolate) and adjusting the amount of cinnamon in the crumble.

Here is a tip - keep some slightly too-ripe bananas in the freezer. Paul won't eat a banana once it starts to get a bit soft and spotty, but they're still good for baking. I don't make banana bread at the drop of a hat so I just toss them in the freezer and wait for inspiration like this. They'll keep for a long time.. I'd say 6 months at the longest. If they turn completely black in your freezer, they've gone off and you should throw them out. When you defrost them, they'll be a bit gooey but it's not anything to worry about.

Dark Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup walnut bits
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon cold butter

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375F and lightly grease a muffin tin, or line with paper cups.

2. Mix first four ingredients in a large bowl.

3. Mix next 6 ingredients in small bowl.

4. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir until just combined.

5. Spoon into muffin cups. Fill until about a quarter inch from the top. You should be able to get 12 regular-size muffins out of the batter.

6. Mix 2 tbsp flour and 1/2 tsp cinnamon in small bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like a coarse meal.

7. Sprinkle about a tsp on top of each muffin.

8. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

(YUM!)