About 10 years ago I found a recipe online for Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins. I hadn't used it for a long time, but a handful of overripe bananas on the counter inspired me to give it another try. I will print the original recipe, and then tell you all the things I did to it.
1 Cup butter or margarine
1 1/4 Cups white sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1 T. instant coffee granules, dissolved in
1 T. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C)
Blend butter or margarine, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla in food processor for 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, baking powder and soda, and blend just until flour disappears. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 18 paper-lined muffin cups.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
I have never added the instant coffee. That just doesn't sound appealing to me, or to other family members.
When I made these on Tuesday I used Earth Balance sticks instead of butter or margarine, reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup, and used dairy-free chocolate chips. I no longer have an actual food processor, but the large pitcher on my Nutribullet worked quite well. But it was difficult to get all the batter out, and also difficult to clean it up.
Even though I am old enough to know better, I set the timer for the designated 25 minutes and did not check them sooner. The muffins were quite brown, but were not dry, so I guess they weren't over-baked after all.
Those muffins vanished quickly, and I still had two bananas left, so today I baked another batch of muffins. I played with the recipe even more. (Possibly too much.) I used the electric mixer instead of the blender/food processor. I used 1/2 cup Earth Balance and 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of the butter, and 3/4 cup honey instead of the white sugar. I forgot to add the salt. I added the rest of the bag of dairy-free chocolate chips, which may or may not have been 1 cup.
Since I was short one banana, I looked in the fridge for applesauce. I found salsa and sauerkraut, neither of which sounded like a good idea, so went to the pantry in the basement for actual applesauce, and added 1/4 cup. I've been told it's prudent to reduce other liquids when substituting honey for sugar, so the small amount of applesauce was my attempt at doing so.
I just took those muffins out of the oven. I've heard of muffin tops, but these are topless muffins. They are flat! I am not sure why. I suppose I indulged in too much substituting. And they are a bit crumbly. But they taste just fine, and that's what really matters. I checked them after 20 minutes, and the darker pan was done. The aluminum pans needed another 5 minutes.
Another time, I would stick to the Earth Balance and omit the coconut oil. I would use less honey, and make sure I have three bananas. And I would try stirring them by hand, just to see what happens.