Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

This is the 5th entry for the Food Inspired by People project. Every Monday for three months, I will post a dish that is inspired by a person. Today is Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins inspired by Ai Yuen – my sister. The middle child.

1st Entry: Sambal (spicy Malaysian condiment)
2nd Entry: Dry Wonton Noodles
3rd Entry: Taiwanese Chicken Rice
4th Entry: Bibimbap (Korean mixed rice)

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Aaah… sisters. They’re useful, aren’t they. Especially if they’re older. They are the shield to us younger siblings from parental mistakes. I remembered her playing with my dad’s razor when she was 5 or 6 years old. I guess she decided that she too had facial hair that needs shaving. She cut her chin, bled a little and I never had my chance to play with razors ever again.

Sisters are also annoying too especially if they’re high achievers. With her perfect academic grades and her nice, quiet demeanor, teachers in school always labeled me as the talkative devil compared to my angelic sister. With us going to the same, relatively SMALL school, most her teachers became my teachers. You can imagine their shock when they met me.

But siblings are the best thing a parent can give to their children. Not that she’s my partner in crime. After all, she’s not criminal material. But she is my rock. My food rock. Once, we were locked out of our own home.

As two little kids, we walked to a food place, ordered instant noodles and she even magically paid for them. She made burgers or fried rice for after school lunches and I always ate off hers. She gave me her sandwich when I was too hungry one morning waiting for the bus. Yup. My food rock.

Now, every time I go back to Malaysia to visit, she would make her banana muffins and Mr. V and I would eat them for breakfast. Of course, he loves them more than I do. I’ve always been a savory breakfast type of girl while he’s the sweet tooth type of guy.

Nevertheless, I can’t deny that they are one of the best muffins I’ve eaten probably because I’m biased and probably because no one else makes muffins for me.

I guess that’s what’s sisters are for. A food rock. A banana chocolate chip muffin rock.

Why this amount of baking powder and baking soda in this recipe? I totally did a test.

Tips:

1. To make muffins moist, use yogurt.

2. Bake the muffins at a higher temperature before lowering it gives the muffins the beautiful dome.

And if you haven’t already, please check out my last post Spicy Tomato Chicken (Ayam Masak Merah). A traditional Malay style dish where chicken is first fried & then braised in a spicy, sweet sourish sauce.

To see all the delectable entries for the Food Inspired by People project, click here.

What does your sibling make you? 

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Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins           Makes 12 muffins

what you need:

4.25 oz unbleached all purpose flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
4 oz whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour (1 cup scoop & sweep)
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (3 large or 4 medium)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
6 tbs unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices (if using) and salt in a bowl.

3. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients: sugar, eggs, bananas, yogurt, butter and vanilla.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, gently fold them until almost incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and finish incorporating the batter. Do not over mix batter. The batter will be very thick.

5. Using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup, scoop the batter into a greased one-dozen muffin pan. Fill batter till about 1/8″ from brim (almost full).

6. Bake the muffins in the oven for 5 minutes and then lower the temperature to 400 F. Bake the muffins for another 15 minutes or until an inserted skewer into the center comes out clean.

7. Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes (still in the pan but on a wire rack) and then gently take each out of the pan and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes:

1. Muffins have no noticeable whole wheat taste. The trick is to use whole wheat pastry flour (which is the softer version) or white whole wheat flour (which doesn’t have as pronounced taste of whole wheat as regular whole wheat but with the same benefits).

2. Bananas have to be very ripe – banana skin is plenty black and should be very soft to touch (almost too soft to handle). Ripe bananas gives the bread the natural sweetness.

3. Muffins can be kept at room temperature for 3-5 days in a container. To store it in the freezer, individually wrap them in aluminum foil and place them in a heavy duty freezer bag for up to 3 months. Try not to store them in the refrigerator as that dries them out.

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