It seems like everyone is making banana bread during quarantine, and I had ripe bananas, so it seemed like a great opportunity to jump on the bandwagon. I already have several banana bread recipes posted on my site, (tahini banana bread, healthier banana bread, and gluten free banana bread) so I wanted to switch things up a bit with these small batch banana chocolate chip muffins. I’ve been very into small batch recipes during quarantine because it allows me to continually cook and try new recipes without my fiancé and I getting sick of a huge batch of something. Just like everyone else, I’ve been minimizing my trips to the grocery store (we haven’t gotten groceries in over two weeks!) so I wanted to make a recipe that wouldn’t use up a ton of ingredients.
These small batch banana chocolate chip muffins can be made in one bowl, use only one ripe banana, and no eggs. I’m down to my last carton of eggs, so instead of using an egg like I normally would when making banana bread, I replaced it with a flax egg which is made from flax seed meal hydrated in water. The muffins turned out delicious and have made me consider replacing the eggs in my regular banana bread with flax eggs instead.
Small batch banana chocolate chip muffins: (Makes 6 muffins)
- 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon flax meal + 3 tablespoons water)
- 1 very ripe banana
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- 1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt (I used 2%, but use whatever you have)
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup oat flour (I just ground 1/3 cup oats into flour consistency)
- 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup chocolate chips
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, then start by making your flax egg. Okay, so you will need a separate bowl to make the flax egg. In a small bowl, hydrate 1 tablespoon of flax seed meal with 3 tablespoons of water. Stir to combine and let the mixture sit until it gels. This should take about 5 to 10 minutes.
In another bowl, mash the banana, brown sugar, vanilla, melted butter, yogurt, and kosher salt until well combined and the banana is almost all the way broken down. It’s okay if you still see chunks of banana in the mix, but it should be pretty well incorporated.
Next, add in the baking powder, baking soda, oat flour (I just grind rolled oats into flour), and whole wheat flour, and mix to combine. You want to make sure that all of the dry ingredients get moistened. Finally, add in your chocolate chips and stir to distribute them throughout the batter. The chocolate chips I had on hand were giant, so I gave them a rough chop first, but there’s no need to do so unless you want to.
I like to use a standard ice cream scoop to ensure that each of the muffins are equal in size so that they bake evenly. Line a standard muffin tin with paper or silicone liners, and scoop out the batter evenly between 6 muffin cups.
Bake the small batch banana chocolate chip muffins at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. When ready, the muffins should be a bit puffed on top, and should spring back slightly when you lightly poke them with your finger. Additionally, a toothpick inserted in the center should come out almost clean with a few moist crumbs. Enjoy!