Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I have this bad habit of putting bananas that are past their prime into the freezer and just saying that one day I'll use them to make banana bread, rather than just tossing them. Or maybe that's a good habit, since that means I don't waste food if I can help it. However, I'm also notoriously lazy with actually getting around to making said banana bread, so I often end up with a bunch of frozen, sad-looking bananas sitting around in the freezer for ages.

I decided to get rid of the ones I had collected recently, but didn't feel like having plain banana bread. I had a bag of milk chocolate chips kicking around (I love them so much more than the semi-sweet kind!) and figured they would be a good addition to the bananas. I came across a recipe from Oh My! Sugar High for chocolate chip banana bread, but tweaked it a little bit and made muffins instead. I like the convenience of having a snack I can grab on the go, rather than having to slice up a loaf when I want some (again with the "notoriously lazy" thing).

The muffins turned out moist and dense. The milk chocolate chips add sweetness to the mellow taste of the bananas, but I tell myself that the muffins are still healthy despite the chocolate because they have fruit in them. (That's how it works, right?)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of room temperature butter
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 4 small bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 and 1/4 cup of milk chocolate chips
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a muffin tin. You could use muffin liners, but I didn't have any on hand so I didn't bother. Less work up front, and when eating the muffins!

In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar together. Add the vanilla, bananas and eggs. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, chocolate chips, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, but don't over-mix.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. There should be enough to fill 12 muffin cups to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

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