Double Chocolate Banana Muffins!

This should have been yesterdays Make it Monday recipe but to be honest with you I kept putting off posting and eventually I forgot... Oops.

Either way this is one super easy recipe that you can mix up and have on the snack tray in no time! And they are certainly a crowd pleaser... as long as you don't spill the beans on the secret ingredient because for some reason when you tell people that a recipe has this ingredient they tend to turn up their nose and walk away because this ingredient has a bad rep...

People think that prunes are an old persons food, and that their only purpose is as a laxative but prunes are soooo good for you! Not only are they are low in salt and fat and taste sweet, mostly because they are just dried plumes but they are the second most cultivated fruit in the world!

No matter how you feel about them here is the recipe for my Double Chocolate Banana Muffins!

3/4 cup dried pitted prunes
1 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup white sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 mashed banana
1 cup ground quick cooking oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup chocolate chunks

Chop prunes and place them in a small sauce pan with the water, bring to a boil and allow to simmer until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the prunes are plumped up, allow to cool. Meanwhile cream your butter and sugar in a large bowl, add the egg and mix well. Once your prunes are cooled puree in a food processor or blender until completely smooth, then mix with your mashed banana. In a medium bowl mix your dry ingredients until combined then add the dry mix into the butter and sugar alternately with the mashed banana and prunes. Once all three are mixed well add your chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
Bake at 350 in mini muffin pans.
Yields 48 mini muffins that are 56 calories each!

They are super yummy and go over  well with just about everyone... little girls and grown men included!


PS: Calorie information for the muffins came from here! And the prune information is from here!

Do you always tell your family what your "secret" ingredients are? Will you give your kids a food and tell them that it was made with something else just to get them to eat it? i'd love to know if i am the only one keeping a few ingredients "secret"!

Make it Monday!

Gran's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Banana's are a rare commodity in our house... as are these muffins, not because we don't buy them but because they just don't last. Between Delaney and me bananas don't make it a week in this house. In order to make these muffins I have to buy the bananas the store sells on clearance because they are already bruised and black,and when I do make them they are gone within a few days! Thses are the most moist and tasty muffins ever made. The recipe was found online about 4 years ago when I couldn't find the one my mom used to make and now it is the only recipe that I make, I use it for banana bread too. I have received so many comments and compliments on this recipe it's almost unbelievable how much people like it! 

So here you are my muffin recipe!

Gran's Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

1 egg

3 mashed bananas 

1 1/2 cups flour 

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Cream together the butter, sugar and egg, beat well. Add flour sifted with salt and soda alternately with mashed bananas. Beat until smooth. 

Bake at 350 degrees, 1 hr for bread or 2-30 mins for muffins.

This is the original recipe but I usually don't sift the flour soda and salt, I mix it in a separate bowl and just add it in. I do also add a splash of milk if I don't have 3 bananas, and I have been known to add a dash of nutmeg sometimes too...

Give it a try! You might just like them as much as we do! 

Do you have a recipe I should try? If you are stopping by to have a look let me know what you love to make!