Get the Recipe: Small Batch Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe
This small batch banana chocolate chip muffins are packed with bananas, sour cream, brown sugar, and mini chocolate chips! The recipe makes 6 muffins.
Ingredients
For the Small Batch Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- 5 ounces (142 grams) very ripe, peeled bananas (see Baker's Tips for volume measures)
- 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce or 28 grams) sour cream, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (4.5 ounces or 128 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 Tablespoons (3 ounces or 85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup tightly packed (3.75 ounces or 106 grams) light OR dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 cup (6 ounces or 170 grams) mini chocolate chips, plus more for garnish
Equipment
- a 6-cavity OR 12-cavity muffin pan
- muffin paper liners
- a 1-Tablespoon OR 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop
Instructions
For the Small Batch Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Prep your oven and pan. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a muffin pan with six paper liners.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Make the banana mixture. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash the bananas, adding the sour cream and vanilla and stirring them into the mixture as you do. The mixture will be thick and chunky, but that's totally okay, I promise!
- Beat the butter and sugar, then add the egg. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light, fluffy, and doubled in volume, 2 to 3 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. Reduce the mixer to low and add the egg, mixing until combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients, banana mixture, and chocolate chips. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in two equal parts, adding the second half only when the first half has been just combined. Add the banana mixture all at once and beat on low until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and beat until evenly distributed. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl once more, and beat on low for an additional 30 seconds.
- Assemble the muffins. Use a 1-Tablespoon or 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to fill each lined cavity with 6 scant tablespoons of the batter. Sprinkle the top of each muffin, aiming for the batter and avoiding the pan, with the chocolate chips for garnish. Pour warm water into the empty cavities of the muffin tin, filling them at least ⅔-rds of the way up.
- Bake the muffins. Bake for 22 to 24 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and golden brown around the edges. A skewer inserted into the center of a muffin should come out with few crumbs attached. Cool in the muffin tin on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the muffins out onto the rack.
- Serve and store. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Bananas are listed in the recipe by weight, not volume or size. Why? It’s risky not to include exact measures for banana bread. Too little banana, and your banana bread will turn out dry, flavorless, and maybe even soapy tasting. Banana’s natural acidity helps neutralize the baking soda in the recipe, so without enough fruit, the banana bread will taste like baking soda! But go the other way and use too much banana, your bread will take forever to bake or collapse in the center. For best results, first peel the bananas, then use a digital scale to weigh the naked fruit. But for those of you who insist on volume measurements, use ⅔ cups mashed bananas, from about 1 large banana.
- This recipe instructs you to fill your muffin tin with a generous portion of batter (around 6 Tablespoons per cavity). The batter is fairly thick, so it will its shape before and during baking, resulting in sky-high domes. Use a 1-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop or a 3-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to fill each cavity evenly and efficiently with the right amount of batter.
- In the recipe, I instruct you to fill the paper liners with 6 “scant” tablespoons of batter. What does that mean? Level off the cookie scoops every time before filling the muffin tin. If you don’t, you’ll likely only use around 5 Tablespoons of batter per muffin.
- Don’t be afraid to use a generous amount of mini chocolate chips to garnish the muffins! As the muffin batter bakes in the oven, it expands in surface area. So it’s best to use more chocolate chips than you think you need to account for that! I used around 1 to 1 ½ teaspoons of mini chocolate chips per muffin when garnishing my muffins and they still look a little sparse. I would probably up it to 2 to 3 teaspoons of mini chocolate chips the next time I make this recipe!
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a star rating and review in the form below. I appreciate your feedback, and it helps others, too!