Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins

These Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Muffins are moist, double-chocolate banana muffins with chocolate chips baked right into the batter and a crunchy topping of more chips and chopped walnuts. They're big, bakery-style muffins that make a special breakfast with very little effort.

Sometimes pictures can speak a thousand words, and pictures of these muffins might be over a thousand words, just about all of them having to do with OH MY YUM! You've heard about people being crazy for muffin tops, right? These muffins are definitely worthy of topping that list. On top of double chocolate banana muffins, you get a scattering of chocolate chips and walnuts. Those muffin tops are calling your name.

I'm not much of a morning person, so baking a batch of muffins on a school night is the perfect solution for me. It's nice to surprise my kids with a yummy breakfast treat without having to get up super early to bake. My kids dug into these muffins. So did their friends, and so did mine. Moist, chocolatey, and a little bit nutty (like me). With several rave reviews, I know I've found a keeper.

Key Ingredients & Substitutions

• Ripe bananas. The riper, the better. Look for bananas with lots of brown speckles, or even mostly brown peels. They're sweeter, softer, and mash easily, and they give the muffins their moist texture and banana flavor. Yellow bananas with green tips are too starchy and won't mash smoothly. Four medium bananas make about 1 ½ cups mashed.
• Unsweetened cocoa powder. This is the first "chocolate" in the name. Regular natural unsweetened cocoa powder works best here because it reacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise. Dutch-process cocoa gives a darker color and a mellower flavor, but the muffins may be a little flatter.
• Chocolate chips. Semi-sweet chips are the classic choice. Half go into the batter and half go on top. Dark chocolate chips make them richer, and mini chips spread the chocolate more evenly through each bite.
• Walnuts. Chopped walnuts add crunch and a toasty flavor to the tops. Chopped pecans are the easiest swap. For a nut-free batch, skip the nuts and add extra chocolate chips, or use roasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds for crunch.
• Oil. The original recipe uses olive oil, which keeps the muffins very moist. Choose a light or mild olive oil so the flavor doesn't compete with the chocolate, or use the same amount of vegetable, canola, or melted coconut oil.
• Milk. Any milk works, including 2%, whole, or an unsweetened non-dairy milk such as almond or oat milk.
• Flour. All-purpose flour gives the best texture. You can replace up to half of it with white whole wheat flour for a heartier muffin.

Helpful Tips

Don't overmix the flour. Once the flour goes in, mix on low speed just until you no longer see dry streaks. Overmixing develops the gluten and makes muffins tough and tunneled instead of tender.

Grease the pan well, or use liners. I used just a little nonstick cooking spray and had the best luck I have ever had with muffins not sticking at all. I barely loosened around the edges before they popped right out. If you'd rather skip the spray, jumbo muffin liners make cleanup even easier and help the muffins travel well.

Use the right size pan. This recipe makes 12 jumbo muffins, which fills two 6-cup jumbo muffin pans. If you only have a standard 12-cup muffin pan, you'll get about 24 regular muffins; bake them in two batches and start checking them at 16 minutes.

Save the toppings for the top. Stir only half of the chocolate chips into the batter, then press the rest of the chips and all of the walnuts lightly onto the unbaked muffins. Pressing them in a little helps them stay put instead of rolling off after baking.

Test for doneness in the cake, not the chocolate. A toothpick that hits a melted chocolate chip will always look wet. Test a couple of spots in the center of a muffin; it's done when the toothpick comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, and the tops spring back when pressed.

Variations

• Peanut butter swirl. Drop a small spoonful of creamy peanut butter onto each filled muffin cup and swirl it in with a knife before adding the toppings.
• Triple chocolate. Use a mix of semi-sweet, milk, and white chocolate chips for a colorful, extra-rich muffin.
• Chocolate banana bread. Bake the batter in two greased 9x5-inch loaf pans for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. For a lighter loaf, try my Banana Oat Bread.
• Mocha banana muffins. Dissolve 1 to 2 teaspoons of instant espresso powder in the milk to deepen the chocolate flavor.
• Cinnamon crunch. Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle it over the walnuts before baking for a crackly, sweet top.

Serving Ideas

These muffins are a complete grab-and-go breakfast on their own, but they're even better warm with a pat of butter or a smear of peanut butter or cream cheese. Pair one with a glass of cold milk, a mug of coffee, or a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie for a chocolate lover's morning.

For brunch, set them out alongside fresh fruit, yogurt, and a batch of classic Perfect Banana Muffins so everyone can pick a favorite. They also make a great after-school snack or lunchbox treat, and a basket of jumbo muffins is a sweet gift for neighbors, teachers, or a new mom.

Storing & Freezing

Let the muffins cool completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Lay a paper towel in the bottom of the container and another on top of the muffins to absorb extra moisture so the tops don't get sticky. For longer storage, keep them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days and warm them briefly before serving, since chilled muffins can taste a little dry.

These muffins freeze beautifully. Wrap each cooled muffin in plastic wrap and place them in a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about an hour, or unwrap and microwave a frozen jumbo muffin for 30 to 45 seconds. To refresh the crunchy tops, warm thawed muffins in a 350°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes.

They're also a great make-ahead breakfast. Bake them on a weeknight like I do, or keep a stash in the freezer and pull out one or two the night before.

More Muffin Recipes

We are muffin crazy at All She Cooks! If you loved these, here are a few more muffins to bake next:

• Perfect Banana Muffins
• Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins
• Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Oatmeal Muffins

Recipe