Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These bakery style banana chocolate chip muffins are soft, moist and are a great way to use up those over ripe bananas you have stashed in your freezer. Enjoy these muffins as a sweet treat any time the craving strikes.

Why you should only bake with over-ripe bananas

Not only are over ripe bananas easier to mash and add into batter, they also become sweeter as they age. during ripening the starches within the banana break down . When starches break down; it increases the bananas simple sugars.

How to Ripen Bananas Natrually

As fruit ripen naturally, they release a natural plant hormone in the form of a gas called ethylene. This gas is known as the “fruit-ripening hormone” Every fruit has a certain level of ethylene production, however in some fruits such as bananas, apples, pears, avocados, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, kiwi, and blueberries the ethylene levels increase dramatically when the fruit starts to ripen. These types of fruits are called climacteric fruits. When climacteric fruits are placed near each other, their initial small concentration of ethylene causes the fruit to produce greater quantities of ethylene which in turn increases the ripening rate.

• Placing several unripe bananas in a paper bag together (or with other climacteric fruits) and loosely closing the bag will trap the ethylene gasses inside, speeding up the ripening process. Your bananas should be nice and ripe in a couple of days.

How to quickly ripen bananas

If you want to whip up these delicious muffins but only have ripe bananas on hand, or don’t want to wait until your bananas ripen naturally, there’s no need to worry. There is a quick trick to ripen bananas in a pinch, all you need is your oven, yellow bananas, tin foil, and a baking sheet. Here’s how:

• Preheat oven to 350F
• place unpeeled bananas on an aluminum foiled lined baking sheet
• bake for 15 minutes or until nice and brown on the outside.
• Allow to cool before peeling and mashing

Storing Ripe Bananas

If the bananas you bought are past their prime and don’t’ have time to immediately bake with them, you can store them in a zip-lock freezer bag and pop them in the freezer until you are ready to use them. Ideally you should use them within 6 months. When you are ready, let the bananas thaw before peeling and adding them into your favorite banana recipe.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. For longer storage; Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

^{Recipe source: Natashas Kitchen}