Double Chocolate Banana Zucchini Muffins (or Bread)

Whenever my husband has to fly a cross country (I’ve mentioned he’s a pilot, right?)  I like to make sure that he has something delicious and homemade to fuel him through long flights.

Most recently I made Double Chocolate Banana Zucchini Bread and had enough ingredients on hand to whip up a batch of muffins for my boys.  I like to bake chocolaty muffins for my boys.  If they don’t look chocolaty, they pick out the chocolate chips and throw the rest.  If there aren’t any chocolate chips, they flat out refuse to eat them.  And that’s why I love recipes like this!

Most of the chocolatiness comes from the cocoa powder (side note: I totally love dark cocoa powder because it gives such a wonderfully chocolaty look to baked goods!)  But (of course) I couldn’t resist adding chocolate chips.  Since there was a lot of sugar in the original recipe, I simply cut the sugar by half & replaced it with the chocolate chips – problem solved!

Double Chocolate Banana Zucchini Muffins (or Bread)

Adapted from The Life & Loves of Grumpy’s Honey Bunch

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

½ cup canola oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground allspice

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line or grease two 12-cup muffin tins or two 8x4-inch loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs.  Whisk in the sugar, and oil.  Add the cocoa and vanilla, stirring well.  Fold in the mashed bananas, followed by the grated zucchini.

Stir in the spices and salt.  Add the flours, baking soda and baking powder and stir until just combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter evenly into the prepared muffin tins or loaf pans.

Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes or loaves for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Delicious served warm with a pat of butter.  Note: It is best to cool the bread completely before slicing, but you can always warm it for 15 seconds in the microwave before eating!