I was never a huge fan of Banana Bread … until … on one of my road trips, I discovered Banana Muffins loaded with chocolate chips. Oh my.

How was I going to be able to indulge in those delicious muffins when they were 190 miles away from home?

I would try to make them myself! I already had a good recipe for Banana Bread that I make for my grand-daughter who happens to love Banana Bread. So I decided to make my muffins even more delicious than those that were so very far away by adding extra ingredients.

To my basic recipe I added Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa and Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips.

I purchased a rather expensive-but-worth-every-single-penny, triple-coated, non-stick professional square muffin pan made by Chefmade.

I LOVE this pan! The muffins just fall out and there’s no need to grease the pan. No mess, just easy release. It can also be used for brownies, cupcakes, and anything baked.

Success! These muffins (they are really like cupcakes) are delicious and super easy to make! And they FREEZE extremely well if there’s any left over to freeze. They stay just-baked fresh for days. Ghirardelli Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are perfect for breakfast, a snack, or on the run. Your family will absolutely love these chocolatey moist muffins.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sift together and set aside:

1 2/3 cup flour

1/3 cup Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Beat until light and fluffy (5-10 minutes)

2 medium eggs

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons sugar

Drizzle:

1/2 cup Canola oil into egg/sugar mixture

Add:

3 large mashed bananas

2 Tablespoons sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Fold in:

Dry ingredients

1/2 cup Ghirardelli Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Fill:

muffin tin with batter 3/4 full

Sprinkle:

a pinch of raw sugar or Turbinado sugar over each muffin

Bake:

in an oven preheated to 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack

If you’d like to make this into a loaf, you’ll need to bake it for up to approximately an hour. A loaf pan should be lined with parchment paper on the bottom. A small mini loaf pan will take about 40-45 minutes.