Finally, THE BEST Banana Muffins

Because of my baking business, I'm not posting a lot of (um, any) baking recipes **sorry you're gonna have to buy that triple-layer coconut cake** plus this is a dinner blog, NOT a baking blog. But my daughter and I made some pretty awesome Banana Nut Chocolate Chip muffins tonight and I wanted to write down the recipe before I forgot it. 

I have searched for years for the perfect banana bread/muffin recipe but with no luck. When you buy it out at a cafe, it's perfectly moist, thick slices of banana goodness or sky high, fluffy muffins. But the many, many recipes I have tested were generally disappointing.

One thing I did differently tonight is use my immersion blender to blend the wet ingredients. I was really frustrated with mashing the bananas - maybe they weren't ripe enough? Skins were black, but they were still pretty firm inside. So after I mashed them with the potato masher, I put all the wet ingredients into a 4 cup measuring cup and whizzed it a few times. Just like a banana-buttermilk-raw egg-canola oil-smoothie. Yum. You could probably get the same results with your regular blender. Just more parts to wash. 

If you know my baking, you may know that I am OBSESSED with buttermilk. Maybe you don't know that, because I don't publish my recipes?! But literally every cake-ish thing I make for the business contains buttermilk. It is magic stuff. It gives a rich tang, a perfect crumb... ah I could go on. But I won't. Here's the recipe: 

My BEST Banana Muffins

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup buttermilk (NO SUBSTITUTIONS, just buy a quart)
2/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (do I really have to tell you **pure**?)
1 large egg
2-3 large bananas, very ripe, well mashed with a potato masher
1 cup chopped walnuts
at least 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375º

In 4 cup Pyrex measuring cup or another high sided bowl, combine egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mashed bananas. 

With your stick blender (Or heck, put all the above in your real blended if it fits) blend until smooth. 

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt then mix thoroughly.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and fold gently by hand using a wooden spoon or my implement of choice, a rubber spatula  *** DO NOT OVER MIX, or your will have TOUGH MUFFINS **

Generously spray muffin tins with cooking spray, including the top surface, so when the muffin top rolls over it won't stick.  

Use a 2 ounce ice cream scoop to measure out the batter into muffin cups to the TOP. That's right, fill 'er up to the top. Then your muffins will be big and beautiful - finally appreciation for a generous muffin top!

18-22 minutes or until muffins spring back with touched and tops are nicely browned. Rotate mid-way through the cooking time and check at 16 minutes with a toothpick - you don't want to overcook these babies. 

Let rest in the pan five minutes if you can possibly wait that long. If you don't, you may burn your fingers getting them out. Slather with butter and eat them all immediately like we did.