Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins with Salted Caramel Glaze

As always, when I have over ripe bananas at home, I will always try to look for new banana recipes to try out. Not that I have no favorite old recipes to fall back to, just that I believe like everyone else, it's nice to explore and discover new interesting ways of incorporating this versatile fruit into bakes. I happen to stumble upon this great recipe on Martha Stewart website which seems to fit the bill. It uses wholewheat flour and vegetable oil which seems pretty healthy, so I'm sold!

It was easy to fall in love with these muffins. Why? It taste soft and delicious, bursting with banana flavor and it won't bust your weighing scale even if you down a couple more. Hahaha! I also added a cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter (why not?!) which makes it even better. To kick up another notch (like Emeril Lagasse always say), I added salted caramel glaze over the muffins.....heaven! So who say a simple old banana can't be a wonderful sweet treat after all?

 

I made some changes to the original recipe, here is my version. Alternatively, click here for original version.

Ingredients for Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins With Salted Caramel Glaze

Salted Caramel Glaze: (Enough to glaze 18-20 muffins)

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp water

2 tsp corn syrup/honey

3 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, water, corn syrup. Cook mixture until it begins to bubble.
• Bring the mixture to a full boil and cook until it becomes dark amber in color and smells like caramel, about 6 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat and carefully whisk in heavy cream, butter and sea salt. Allow caramel to cool down for 15 minutes.
• Lastly, stir in the vanilla extract and sea salt. Use immediately or cover and store at room temperature up to a day.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins: (makes 12 standard or 16 mini)

4 large ripe bananas

140g light brown sugar

110ml vegetable oil

1 large egg

140g cake flour

130g wholewheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup fresh whole milk + 1 tsp vinegar

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract 

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 175C. Line 12 muffin liners.
• In a large mixing bowl, add in the 4 banana flesh and mix with the paddle attachment. Beat until mashed, about 1 minute. Add brown sugar, oil, and egg; beat until smooth. Reduce speed to low. Add flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; beat until smooth. Add milk vinegar mixture and vanilla; beat until combined. Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips till just combined.
• Fill muffin liners three-quarters full. Slice remaining banana into 1/8-inch-thick rounds; place a slice on each muffin. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes for regular muffins and 20 for mini, rotating pan halfway through. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Store, covered, at room temperature.
•  
• Once the muffins are cooled, drizzle the caramel glaze over the top. You can use piping bags or squirt bottles to do that.

Since I did reduce the amount of sugar, the muffins were just right with the chocolate chips and the salted caramel. Each bite is rich banana aroma, chocolaty, sweet caramel with a hint of saltiness. I simply adore it! 

I'm linking this post to Cook Like A Star organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat your heart out and Riceball from Riceball Eats
Cook like a Star - December 2012
Martha Stewart

Okay all, got to run again. Have a great weekend!