These healthful (yet decadent) double chocolate banana blender muffins are easily gluten-free, amazingly delicious, and SO fast to make. No stressing about over mixing muffin batter – the blender does all the work!
If I’ve learned one thing about myself over the last couple of years, it’s that I have a thing for blender muffins. And I’m not entirely sure I see that stopping anytime soon.
Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins
Banana Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins
And while my mind is constantly spinning with other flavor profiles, clearly I couldn’t proceed until we tackled a double chocolate blender muffin. These super quick, totally foolproof double chocolate banana blender muffins are in a league of their own. Wow, they are good.
The ultra-chocolate flavor leaves no doubt of what’s really important in life (and in a muffin). But believe it or not, they still fall on the healthful side of the spectrum (for me; I realize we all have our own parameters around “healthy”). Naturally sweetened with bananas and honey, there’s no added or oil or fat, and the muffins are deliciously whole grain.
Most muffins recipes lecture you from here to Friday about the dangers and perils of over mixing the muffin batter. Over mixing can be death to a fluffy, moist muffin. But you don’t have to worry about that at all with this recipe. You literally throw all the ingredients in the blender and let ‘er go.
Skeptical? I get it. I was too. How on earth could a blender pulverize muffin batter and still turn out a soft and fluffy muffin? Well, one of the risks of over mixing traditional muffin batter is that it over develops the gluten and toughens the texture of the muffins. Gluten is present if there’s all-purpose or wheat flour in the recipe.
Because this recipe relies on oats for structure, the gluten is virtually nonexistent (and totally nonexistent if using certified GF oats). That means the batter can undergo the total definition of over mixing in the blender and still come out on the other side fluffy and perfect.
Please note, however, that while these double chocolate banana blender muffins are certainly soft and very definitely moist, they aren’t ultra sky-high fluffy like a cupcake or bakery-style muffin. I would describe the texture as soft and sturdy. Not dense, just a little sturdy deliciousness.
You can see in the picture below that after blending, the oats are still just a tiny bit detectable. The batter isn’t going to be 100% completely smooth. And that’s ok. There’s no noticeable oaty chunks in the baked muffins.
Because these muffins don’t have any added butter, oil or other fat, you might want to lightly grease the liners before scooping in the muffin batter. And definitely grease the muffin tin if you are going commando (no liners).
I almost always use my large cookie scoop aff. link to portion out muffin batter (for these muffins, I do a full scoop and then just a titch more to get the right amount – super scientific, I know). And even though I’ve said it before, let me reemphasize the merits of the USA brand muffin tin aff. link. It bakes evenly, it’s super easy to clean, and the muffin wells are slightly deeper which means I’ve never had a muffin ever, ever overflow when baking in this tin. Cue the Hallelujah chorus.
Of course a more traditional muffin tin can be used as well (this inexpensive Farberware brand aff. link is great).
Dotting the top of the muffin batter with additional chocolate chips is totally optional. But I do think it says a lot about a person depending on what they choose. Are you a more chocolate chips always and forever more kind of person? Or are you in the I’m good let’s not go overboard camp? I think we all know where I stand on this issue. ?
Either way, there’s enough chocolate flavor in these banana blender muffins to last a lifetime.
With less than 15 minutes of prep and an even quicker baking time (please oh please don’t over bake them!), you’re going to be faced with an entire muffin tin of gorgeous double chocolate banana blender muffins before you know it. I propose you figure out your self-control strategy sooner than later.
Because while they may be whole grain and somewhat healthful and all that, they are still completely irresistible.
And while you get a batch or three of these in the oven, I’ll just be over here dreaming up the next blender muffin flavor profile. How did we ever live before blender muffins (and siri)? Seriously. How.
As a sidenote, my youngest child, Cam, is following a strict gluten-free/artificial food dye-free diet for a while to try to narrow down some tummy issues. I have a lot to say about this and will probably talk about it in an upcoming Friday Thoughts post, but I’m certainly gaining a whole new appreciation for all of you that embrace a gluten-free lifestyle day in and day out!
These easily gluten-free muffins have been a lifesaver for her. She’s been thrilled to have a treat at school on those days when birthday cupcakes and cookies are being passed around in class (as well as dum-dums and skittles and oreos and everything else she can’t have right now thanks to the gluten-free + food dye component).
Believe me, though, these double chocolate banana blender muffins aren’t just tolerable because we’re searching for gluten-free snacks…they are honest to goodness delicious in their own right. I hope you love them!
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Yield:
12 muffins
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
15 minutes
Total Time:
35 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 ripe medium-size bananas (about 10 ounces)
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (2.5 ounces) honey (or granulated sugar)
- 1/2 cup (1.5 ounces) natural, unsweetened cocoa powder (see note)
- 2 cups (7.5 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats (see note)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 to 1 cup (3 to 6 ounces) chocolate chips + more for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners and lightly coat the liners with nonstick cooking spray (or omit the liners and grease the muffin tin).
- Add the bananas, sour cream or yogurt, eggs, vanilla, honey, cocoa powder, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt to a blender. Process until well-blended, scraping down the sides of the blender if needed.
- Add the chocolate chips to the blender and stir with a spoon or spatula.
- Portion the batter evenly into the muffin cups, about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of each muffin (optional).
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until the muffins spring back to the touch and are baked through (don’t over bake or they might be dry!).
Notes
Keep in mind you need certified GF oats to make these muffins 100% gluten-free (not all oats are gluten-free).
The full amount (1/2 cup) cocoa powder makes for a very chocolatey muffin. If you want to dial that down just a bit, use 1/3 cup cocoa powder instead.
Also, these muffins are just very lightly sweet (the ripeness of your bananas will help the sweetness factor along, too) which is how I like them for breakfast fare but if you like your quick breads a tad sweeter, increase the sugar/honey as needed.
I have not subbed quick oats in this recipe but you could certainly experiment.
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Recipe Source: inspired by these banana chocolate chip blender muffins
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