These Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins feature chocolate chips and chopped toasted hazelnuts. They make a delicious breakfast or snack.
Chocolate and hazelnut is just one of those delicious flavor combinations. Kind of like chocolate and peanut butter, or chocolate and cherry. Come to think of it, maybe it's just chocolate and anything that's good together.
In any case, the combination of chocolate, hazelnut, and banana in these muffins is wonderful. My whole family loved them, despite neither of my kids particularly liking bananas or anything banana-related.
So hopefully you like them as much as we did, and you can grab one of these delicious Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins for breakfast or a snack.
How to make Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins
Making these decadent muffins (which my son calls "cupcakes") is very similar to making most other muffins. Start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Don't forget to sift your cocoa powder if it's on the lumpy side - no one likes biting into a bitter lump of cocoa in their muffin.
Next, stir together the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl or large measuring cup. I like to keep powdered buttermilk on hand for baking, but if you don't have it, you can use soured milk, yogurt, or Greek yogurt and milk (or dairy-free versions of yogurt/milk).
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Now let the batter sit. I've found recently that this greatly improves the texture and rise of almost all muffins. It doesn't have to be for a long time - about 15 minutes while you wait for the oven to heat is enough, but if you're going to leave the batter longer than that, cover it an put it in the fridge.
Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it, about 15-20 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then cool completely to room temperature before storing them in an airtight container or zipper bag. Freeze them if you're going to keep them for longer than about 2 days.
Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins Ingredients
- All-purpose flour
- Whole wheat flour - I prefer using at least a little bit of whole wheat flour in many of my baked goods. I find that you can't even notice it in darker-colored items like these chocolatey muffins. However, if you prefer not to use it, or you don't have any, you can replace it with an equal amount of all-purpose flour.
- Cocoa powder - this recipe will work with either regular (natural) cocoa, or Dutch-processed cocoa.
- Toasted hazelnuts - If your hazelnuts are raw, simply toast them in a skillet over medium heat (make sure to keep an eye on them, they go from pleasantly toasted to bitterly burnt in what seems like seconds). You can toast them whole or already chopped. Pro-tip: invest in a nut chopper to make much easier work of chopping rolly hazelnuts.
- Chocolate chips - When I'm using a relatively small amount of chocolate chips in a recipe like I am here, I prefer to use mini chocolate chips for more even chocolate distribution. Use dairy-free chocolate chips to make these muffins dairy-free.
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Table salt - if you're using kosher salt, increase the amount to ½ teaspoon.
- Mashed banana - you will need 3-4 medium bananas for this recipe. Pro-tip: when you have over-ripe bananas that won't get eaten, slice and freeze them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer the pieces to a freezer bag so that you always have ripe bananas on hand for baking.
- Granulated sugar
- Buttermilk - for convenience when baking, I always keep some buttermilk powder on hand (follow the directions on the package, but it generally requires adding the powder and water to the recipe). You could also use plain or vanilla flavored yogurt, or a 1:1 ratio of plain or vanilla Greek yogurt and milk, or milk soured with a Tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar. Use dairy-free yogurt to make these muffins dairy-free.
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
Want more muffin recipes?
Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins Nutrition Notes
The nutrition information in the recipe below is for one muffin if you use the recipe to make 12 muffins.
To make these muffins dairy-free, replace the buttermilk with your favorite dairy-free yogurt alternative and make sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips.
Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Muffins
Equipment
- Immersion blender optional
- Nut Chopper optional
- Paper Muffin Liners optional
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup toasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped
- ¼ cup chocolate chips
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ½ cups mashed banana from 3-4 medium bananas
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk (see note)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk together 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (113 g) whole wheat flour, ½ cup (42 g) cocoa powder, the coarsely chopped hazelnuts, ¼ cup (43 g) chocolate chips, 1 Tablespoon (12 g) baking powder, 1 teaspoon (4 g) baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon (1.5 g) table salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- In a smaller bowl, blend (using an immersion blender is easiest) or stir together 1 ½ cups (340 g) mashed banana, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar, ½ cup (120 g) buttermilk, 1 large egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until no more powdery bits remain. Leave the batter to rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes while you heat the oven (or cover the batter and place it in the fridge if you'd like to let it rest longer.)
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a muffin pan by lining the cups with paper liners or greasing them with neutral-flavored cooking oil. Once the oven is at temperature and the batter has rested, use a large spoon to fill the muffin cups most of the way full. Sprinkle the top of the batter with a little extra chopped hazelnuts and/or chocolate chips, if desired (or you could top them with coarse sugar if you like).
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool muffins for at least 10 minutes before serving. To store leftover muffins, cool them to room temperature and store them in a zipper bag or airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for longer.
Notes
Nutrition
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