Recently I had gone shopping and picked up some Cocoa Nibs from Trader Joe’s. I had no idea what I was going to make with them. I just thought they were interesting. I had tried cocoa nibs for the first time in Costa Rica on a “spice” tour and thought they were fantastic. Cocoa nibs are chocolatey but not sweet. I like my chocolate very dark so these little nibs appeal to me. Now I just needed to figure out what to do with them. As I was thinking about my newly purchased cocoa nibs (nibs for short), I spotted some very ripe bananas on my counter. Normally, I’d make my Goodness Runs Through It Banana Bread when I see ripe bananas but I had these newly purchased nibs to consider. Hhhhhmm….what to do, what to do. Why not combine bananas and cocoa nibs? I could use up my ripe bananas and cocoa nibs. Surely, cocoa nibs would go with most, if not all, fruit. I thought muffins would be perfect so here are my Banana and Cocoa Nib Muffins. Ha! See how good these look!
I really like bananas, and these muffins have a big banana flavor, but what really brought these muffins to the next level is the little cocoa nibs. They added such a nice, not too sweet, chocolate flavor and a crunch that was very pleasing. Give them a try! I am now trying to figure out what else I can do with these cocoa nibs so any suggestions from you would be great.
Banana and Cocoa Nib Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe bananas
- ¾ cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup cocoa nibs
- Non-stick spray butter flavor
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas. Add sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix together until thoroughly combined.
- Sift flour, baking soda and salt into the banana mixture. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated then mix about ¼ cup of cocoa nibs into banana batter.
- Spray the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick spray. Pour banana batter into each cup until the cup is almost full. Sprinkle the remaining cocoa nibs on the top of each muffin.
- Bake for 15-19 minutes. The muffins are done when they are slightly browned and a toothpick can be inserted into the middle of the muffin and come out clean.
- Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy!