Chocolate Banana Muffins

Another week, another batch of muffins. The amount of banana muffins we eat is surely indicative of the fact that we never finish our bananas before they go brown - but we don't waste them, since our freezer is always bursting with bananas just waiting to be baked. But I felt a craving for chocolate too this time - and thanks to Nigella's simple Chocolate Banana Muffins, my dream became a delicious reality.

Nigella called these muffins "darkly elegant" - thanks to the 3 Tbsp cocoa added into the dry ingredients. The rest is pretty basic - 1 3/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda. Only Nigella Lawson could make a simple muffin recipe seem so sexy.






Mash three bananas in a large bowl, and mix in 1/3 cup oil, 2 eggs and 1/2 cup brown sugar. And that's it - Nigella doesn't mess around with other spices, or even vanilla. But she very handily points out that there is no need to use fancy cafe muffin papers, those "tulip-skirted party frocks" - plain papers will work just fine.

Well, she was right on two counts. 1) These muffins are crazy moist - I left one out for days and it was still moist when I finally ate it and 2) these things would be damn good served after dinner with coffee! Now they are a bit plain, not too sweet and not too chocolatey - you could add more sugar, or some mini chocolate chips to spice them up. But for a simple, not-too-heavy snack, they are delish.