Chocolate Banana Muffins

Well contrary to what the song says, it is not "all about the base." That is, when it comes to muffins. These muffins reinforce what we all know to be true -- muffin tops are the best part of the muffin!

When I read the recipe instructions for these treats, I envisioned a big baked glop as the end result and also some cooked batter on the baking sheet. After all, I have never filled muffin tin cavities to the top with the batter and this recipe stated fill to just over the rim. That's right-- just over the rim! However, since the author made special notes regarding a lawsuit tied to a bakery stealing one of her muffin recipes, I decided to follow the instructions as stated.

I am sure glad I did. To my pleasant surprise, the muffins turned out with a huge top and did not stick or tear when removing from the muffin tin. The inside was very moist and packed with lots of flavor. The baked treats are composed of 2 types of chocolate, bananas and nuts. Prior to baking, they are topped with chewy coconut and ground nuts held together by a little butter. These are a tasty way to start the day, but too good to be segregated to breakfast. They make for a tasty afternoon snack as well. The recipe yields about 16 to 18 muffins with lovely, large tops.

Chocolate Banana Muffins
adapted from The Best of Better Baking

Ingredients/Topping
2 tbs packed brown sugar
4 tbs or 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, cubed and softened
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup of finely ground nuts- pecans or macadamia

Ingredients/Muffins
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbs strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup banana purée (about 2 ripe bananas)
4 eggs
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans or macadamia nuts
4 oz chopped white chocolate
1/2 semisweet chocolate chips
3 3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder

Start by preheating the oven to 425 degrees. Grease the top edge of 18 cavities of muffin tin(s). Line the cavities with paper liners. Line baking sheet (s) with parchment paper. The recipe recommends that most of the mixing in this recipe be done by a food processor. At this time, set up your equipment accordingly.

Using a medium size bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt . Set aside. For the topping, fill the bowl of a food processor with all the filling ingredients. Cover and pulse for about 15 seconds. Transfer topping into a bowl and set aside for later use. Clean the food processor bowl.

Using the same processor bowl, fill with both types of sugar, butter and oil. Pulse until mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract and coffee, pulsing again until blended.  Add the eggs, one at a time, processing each completely into the batter. Lastly, pulse in the sour cream and the banana puree.

Transfer batter from the food processor to the bowl of sifted ingredients. Fold together until no dry streaks remain. Then mix in both types of chocolate and nuts, making sure all is evenly distributed into the dough.

Fill the muffin cavities with the batter by using a large ice cream scoop. The cavities should be filled to just over the rim. Scoop out about 1 1/2 tbs of the topping and flatten into a disc with your hands and place on top of each cavity of batter and press lightly. Put each pan on the prepared baking sheet.

Place the pans in the oven, using the top and middle shelves. Then reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. Bake the muffins until tester comes out clean and top springs back when lightly touched.  Be sure to rotate the pans at the halfway point of baking. The recipe recommends 20-22 minutes, but mine took about 30 minutes. Let muffins cool in pans for about 15 minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

Tips and Notes:
1. Timing is everything and baking time will vary depending if you are using a dark pan or not. The recipe states be careful not to over bake, but my issue was the opposite- making sure they were completely baked.

2. The author instructed cooling time in muffin pan as 5 minutes, but I stated 15 minutes in the above recipe. This change was made to insure that they would retain the same shape when pulled out of the oven. Even with the increased wait time, the muffins did not stick to the pan when transferring each muffin to the cooling rack. 
                           **LAST YEAR:Black Walnut Madeira Cake**

Pecan Tassies

Pecan pie does vary quite a bit when it comes to the filling.  Some are sweeter than others and the filling can be runny or be pretty solid.  However, just like peanut brittle, there is never enough nuts there to satisfy.

These little gems turned out to be less like a pecan pie than I thought they would.  Instead of a nut topping with a filling, they were packed with pecans and the liquid filling baked up to be just enough to clump all the nuts together.  Between the taste and the size, these tarts are perfect for any get together or afternoon snack. The recipe below makes 24 tarts, 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

Pecan Tassies
adapted from The Essential Baker

Ingredients/Pastry Dough
1 cup flour
1/2 cup softened butter
3 oz softened cream cheese

Ingredients/Filling
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbs dark corn syrup
1 egg
2 tbs melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of pecans

For pastry dough, cream together butter and cream cheese until fluffy.  This should take about 2 minutes on medium speed using a stand mixer.  With the mixer still running, add the flour in 1/4 cup increments, beating until the mixture becomes a ball of dough.

Flatten the ball of dough, wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill for no less than 2 hours.  Remove and let stand for about 10 minutes until it becomes flexible.  The dough should be able to be rolled easily without breaking and should not require a lot of flour.

Lightly dust 2 wax sheets of paper with flour.  Then sandwich the dough disc between the wax paper with the flour side facing the dough.  Roll until dough is 1/4 of an inch thick.  Remove the top sheet of paper and dust off excess flour from the dough.  Cut out rounds in the dough measuring 3 1/4 inches in diameter.  Keep cutting and rolling scraps until there is no longer enough dough to cut out.

Place each circle of dough in the mini tart pans. Press and shape to fit all crevasses, making sure it clings to the bottom as well as the fluted sides. Smooth off the excess dough sticking above the top edges with your fingers.   Place the pans on a baking sheet and chill in the refridgerator while you make the filling.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place the nuts in a shallow foil pan or on a baking sheet.  Let nuts toast in oven for 5 minutes.  Remove and once the nuts have cooled, coarsely chop and set aside.

Fill a medium bowl with the egg, vanilla, butter and corn syrup.  Whip together with a wire whisk.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar and salt together.  Add this dry mix to the egg mixture, whisking until completely blended. Put mixture into a container with a pouring spout.

Take out the mini tarts.  Evenly fill each one with the chopped pecans. Then pour the sugar mixture into each, dividing the liquid filling equally.

Leave the tarts on the baking sheet and place in oven to bake.  Tarts are done when filling is set and crust is a light brown.  This should take about 25-30 minutes.  Remove pans and place on rack to completely cool.

Tarts should come out of pans easily by tapping on the bottom.

Notes and Tips:
1. The tartlet pans I used were not non-stick and the instructions stated they needed to be greased.  I used a paper towel dipped in oil to grease the inside of the tart pans
2.  Even with greasing the pans, the spilling of the filling on the top edge of the tart will cause it to stick, so be careful when pouring the filling.
                       **LAST YEAR: Brown Sugar Peanut Squares**