Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Thank you for your kind comments and emails about my father.  I’m very thankful to have my husband, sisters, mother, children, and friends to lean on during this difficult time.  It’s been a tough two weeks, and his sudden passing is still very hard for my mom and the rest of us to believe–he seemed so invincible. Now that I’m back home, I finally started cooking some old favorite comfort foods, and today I baked in honor of my dad. My dad had quite a sweet tooth in his later years, so I made these chocolate peanut butter muffins from Marsha’s Baking Addiction because he loved peanut butter & chocolate. These decadent muffins were a hit with my kids, who thought they were very rich and tasty.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 medium ripe bananas, well mashed
• ½ cup + 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter, divided

How to Make Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Muffins:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray.

Sift the flour, coconut powder, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

Whisk together the eggs and sugar until creamy and lighter in color, about 1 minute. Add the buttermilk, oil, vanilla, mashed banana, and ½ cup peanut butter, and mix until creamy and combined, about 2 minutes.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the liquid batter in thirds, or until just combined. Add ¼ cup of chocolate chips and mix.

Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin pan, filling them to the top.

Microwave the remaining 2 tablespoons of peanut butter for 15-20 seconds, until warmed. Stir well.

For a peanut butter swirl, spoon a little warmed peanut butter on top of each muffin, then use a toothpick to create swirls.

Divide the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate chips among the tops.

Bake for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 12-15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool in the pan for a few minutes before moving them onto a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Serve plain or slathered with butter and lots of ice-cold milk on the side. Enjoy.