Steff's Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Banana Muffins

I love muffins. They rock. They rock, and rock, and rock.

I mean, MUFFINS? C'mon! Muffiny goodness is all you need to get to Happy Land on any given morning.

Not their muffins, not those commercial laughingstocks they try to pass off as "muffins," but the real deal. The made-in-your-oven, fresh-as-can-be, with-real-ingredients kind of muffins that money just can't buy. Oh, sure, maybe you THINK that's a good bakery down the street, but really, it just doesn't compare.

I was lucky. Way back in high school, I had this vicious bitch who I'll call Miss L as a home economics teacher. She was evil, vile, and I didn't like her much, but my god, the things she taught me about baking have stayed with me to this day. I learned all the ways that baking soda can be activated (it needs an acidic ingredient to kick it off, or something like brown sugar, for instance), all the secrets to the chemistry behind baking, and even little tricks like "never stir muffins more than 17 times, or they get glutinous and start getting brick-heavy."

So, it's given me the confidence to screw around with baking recipes, something you shouldn't do until you know how things work. I can't remember the name of the book, but there was a great book out a few years ago that taught the chemistry of cooking, how things combine and react, and why. Something like that should be mandatory for anyone stepping near a cooking appliance.

Here's a recent concoction I created based on a Mocha Banana Muffin, which wasn't hitting the right notes for me. Plus, I don't like using a solid cup of butter or margarine, since it's all bad fat. Instead, when wealthy, I would use almond butter, but since money's a stretch, peanut butter it is. I also reduced the sugar from the original recipe that I used for inspiration. I hate the way most people seem to think that "muffin" really means "cupcake." I try to make mine healthier than all the recipes I find, and will usually even mix, say, a 1/2 cup of quick oats with an equal part of yogurt and just mix it in -- allow the yogurt and oats to sit and soak and meld for about 5-10 minutes in the moist part of the mix before adding the other dried ingredients, since it guarantees the oats will break down and not be as obvious in the muffins. Mm, nice. It seldom changes the potency or flavour of the recipe, but gives you a better source of fibre, and also this beautiful tart complexity from the yogurt that offsets the sweetness. (I haven't tried that with these, but I'm sure it'd be nice.)

These are moist, yummy, and can double as dessert or a kick'n'go breakfast on a busy day. The peanut butter's only a hint of peanut taste, and isn't as obvious as you would expect. Most people who've tried these are surprised it's a factor, considering the even, nice taste it has. The blacker your bananas, the more moist and sweet-tasting these will be. You won't find this recipe anywhere but here, since it's my making. But have at it and enjoy.

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Steff's Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Banana Muffins

So, preheat yer oven to 350.

1/3 c. butter
2/3 c. peanut butter (or almond for healthier...! I use crunchy pb with no preservatives, etc, so I add a little extra salt)
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water (or, pfft... I used the dredges of coffee from my french press -- about 2tbsps. snobs rule. ;)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (i use 3/4 c. unbleached with 1.5 cups of whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 - 250-300 grams bag of semisweet chocolate chips (standard "Chipits" bag, for instance)

Cream together the: butter, peanut butter, sugar, egg, bananas, coffee, and vanilla. Get it really moist and smooth.

Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then mix into the creamed mixture by hand. Stir SEVENTEEN times... a trick I learned in home ec 10 -- keeps the muffins as moist and tender as they can be, as they get overly glutinous too quickly. Biggest mistake made. :)

Right at the end, just as the flour is almost all added, like on the 15th stir, mix in the choc. chips and maybe give an extra couple stirs.

Makes 18 yummy muffins. I fill them to the tops of the muffin tins, since the whole wheat is heavier and they don't rise as much.

Oops. Forgot the baking time -- about 20-25 minutes, until you poke the top and it bounces back into shape right away, that means they're done. :)