I'm Sitting on a Mountain of Stumps

I emerged from the long weekend with a bunch of almost overripe bananas and a hankering to transform them into something . . . not boring and not banana bread. I wanted less "What Not to Wear," and more "Extreme Makeover."

According to Bon Appetit, this delicious muffin recipe is from Evelyn's Coffee Bar in Banff, Canada. I've never been to Canada, but now I know twice as much as I did about the Canadian people. I already knew that they pronounce their "abouts" in a peculiar way, and now I know that they have absolutely killer chocolate chip banana muffin recipes.

With literally five minutes of prep time, you can go from old and busted to new hotness in 40 minutes flat. Let's see Dr. 90210 do that. These muffins are short and dense and don't rise or fluff up much at all (butter much?). Their shape reminds me of little Jiffy cornbreads, and I guess they really don't have tops on them like traditional muffins. They're almost like delicious little muffin . . . stumps? Hmm. I guess we have a situation here.


Chocolate Chip Banana Muffin Stumps adapted from Bon Appetit
Makes 12

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 overripe mashed bananas
1 large egg
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1/4 milk
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease a 12 regular-sized muffin cups. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. In the bowl of a mixer, mix the bananas, egg, melted butter, and milk. Stir in the dry ingredients until just blended, and then stir in the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake them for about 34 minutes, or until they are golden and a tester comes out clean. Cool the muffin stumps on a wire rack.