Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Double Chocolate Banana Zucchini Muffins!

Last week I was looking for a tasty chocolate muffin recipe similar to the amazing Costco chocolate muffins! Only to realize that all the "copycat" recipes require a cake mix, I'm not exactly a cake mix person. Growing up my mom always made delicious baked goods from scratch, so I blame it on my childhood. So grateful she shared her love of baking with me!
Okay, so back to searching for a delicious muffin recipe that didn't include a cake mix. I found this yummy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins recipe, BUT I didn't have enough bananas, I did have frozen shredded zucchini! So I did part banana, part zucchini, it turned out amazing! But they were a little denser than I wanted, and I wanted to add more zucchini, so I tried it again and changed it up some. I've already made it with the changes a few times, woohoo for a good freezer recipe! Love making baked goods, especially breakfast foods that I can easily pop in the freezer easily. I am SO not a morning person, so these are perfect to pull out of the freezer the night before! Fed happy kids makes for a happy mom in the morning!
Double Chocolate Banana Zucchini Muffins: 
3/4 c. Melted Butter (1.5 sticks)
2 eggs
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. Mashed bananas
1 1/2 c. Shredded zucchini (i used shredded zucchini that i had frozen, I pulled it out of the freezer and let it thaw a little, but not completely, so it was still a little icy when i threw it in)
1/4 c. Buttermilk 
1/2 c. Cocoa
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsp. cinnamon
3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. Mini Chocolate Chips
1/2 c. Mini chocolate chips to top the muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. I melted the butter in the microwave for 90 seconds, stopping every 20-30 seconds to stir, so it doesn't bubble over. Mix together butter, eggs, sugars, banana, milk and zucchini until well blended. Add in cinnamon, soda, powder, cocoa, flour and 1 1/2 cups mini chips. Make sure it's blended well. Drop into muffin pans, I use the large pampered chef scoop - LOVE it - it's the perfect size for muffins and cupcakes! Oh and once you drop it in the muffins pan or cupcake liners top the muffins with mini chips before popping in the oven. It makes them even yummier! Bake for 18 mins, makes about 40 muffins (so then you can share them with a friend or freeze them for future mornings.
You just top a few chips on top of each one before baking like so!
See how much yummier they look with chips on top!
Chocolate muffin perfection! PLUS, they're totally healthy right (wink wink)! Being packed with fruit and veggie, impossible to resist!
Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
~Cassie