This is one of those special banana nut muffin recipes that will jump start your day—a moist subtly mocha-flavored banana muffin enhanced with macadamias and semi-sweet chocolate mini chips. It’s made healthy with white whole wheat flour, bananas, and yogurt, and contains only 1/4 cup of butter, which equals only 1 teaspoon per muffin.
This banana mocha macadamia nut muffin is adapted from a recipe I saw in Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients Into Your Cooking for Espresso Banana Muffins that called for 6 tablespoons of room temperature butter to be creamed with sugar until light and fluffy. Although, this creates a lighter cake-like consistency, digging out the electric mixer first thing in the morning is a no-starter for a quick and easy focused cook like me, who likes to ease into the day. I also prefer my banana nut muffin recipes a little heavier and less cake-like; they seem healthier and more satisfying somehow.
By opting to melt the butter I was able to stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon - quick and easy. The result is my simpler version of banana mocha macadamia nut muffins.
Banana Mocha Macadamia Nut Muffins Recipe
2cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder or espresso powder
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium to large)
1 cup chopped toasted macadamia nuts, divided
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Lightly grease the bottoms of a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, coffee powder, and cocoa powder until combined. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, yoga and mashed bananas with a wooden spoon until well combined and creamy.
Gently stir the dry ingredients into the liquid until just combined, being careful not to over mix or the muffins will be tough. Stir in 1/2 cup of the nuts and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cups equally. I love to use an ice cream scoop to make quick, neat, and easy work of filling muffin tins. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and chocolate chips equally among the muffin tops:
Bake until golden, about 25 minutes and transfer the muffin tin to a rack to cool. Cool muffins in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack or enjoy warm.
Servings: 12 banana mocha macadamia nut muffins
Nourishing Note: This recipe can be made into banana mocha macadamia nut bread. Just pour the batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350F for about 45 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. If you are using a glass loaf pan, lower the temperature to 325F and bake about ten minutes less since glass is a better heat conductor than metal.
This banana mocha macadamia nut muffin recipes adapted from Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking by Heidi Swanson.
This banana mocha macadamia nut muffin is adapted from a recipe I saw in Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients Into Your Cooking for Espresso Banana Muffins that called for 6 tablespoons of room temperature butter to be creamed with sugar until light and fluffy. Although, this creates a lighter cake-like consistency, digging out the electric mixer first thing in the morning is a no-starter for a quick and easy focused cook like me, who likes to ease into the day. I also prefer my banana nut muffin recipes a little heavier and less cake-like; they seem healthier and more satisfying somehow.
By opting to melt the butter I was able to stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon - quick and easy. The result is my simpler version of banana mocha macadamia nut muffins.
Banana Mocha Macadamia Nut Muffins Recipe
2cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder or espresso powder
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup natural cane sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium to large)
1 cup chopped toasted macadamia nuts, divided
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Lightly grease the bottoms of a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, coffee powder, and cocoa powder until combined. In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, yoga and mashed bananas with a wooden spoon until well combined and creamy.
Gently stir the dry ingredients into the liquid until just combined, being careful not to over mix or the muffins will be tough. Stir in 1/2 cup of the nuts and 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Fill the muffin cups equally. I love to use an ice cream scoop to make quick, neat, and easy work of filling muffin tins. Sprinkle the remaining nuts and chocolate chips equally among the muffin tops:
Bake until golden, about 25 minutes and transfer the muffin tin to a rack to cool. Cool muffins in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack or enjoy warm.
Servings: 12 banana mocha macadamia nut muffins
Nourishing Note: This recipe can be made into banana mocha macadamia nut bread. Just pour the batter into a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake at 350F for about 45 to 60 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. If you are using a glass loaf pan, lower the temperature to 325F and bake about ten minutes less since glass is a better heat conductor than metal.
This banana mocha macadamia nut muffin recipes adapted from Super Natural Cooking: Five Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Ingredients into Your Cooking by Heidi Swanson.