Do you have a bunch of overly ripe bananas lying around?

Then it's high time you bake up a batch of these muffins! They certainly look a lot better and they taste a lot better too, which you'll just have to take my word on until you make them yourself (would that the internet was truly interactive and you could just reach through the screen and take a bite out of one of these right now!)

I served these at a family brunch not too long ago and everyone loved them. These are moist, sweet, full of banana flavor and laced with chocolate chips throughout. They've got the interesting addition of mascarpone cheese and instant espresso powder, which seems to make these richer and more intensely flavored than any banana based muffin or bread I've ever made before. And they're easy to put together too.

One little tip, and this is for all muffins and quick breads, when mixing your dry ingredients into your wet, be sure not to over mix so your end result stays fluffy and light. This means that you barely want to incorporate the flour--when you see that most of the flour is no longer visible, just give the batter a couple of turns and then stop mixing. When you add the chocolate chips in, any stray flour will get incorporated then.

Breakfast, brunch, snack , dessert--you'll go bananas for these!

And one little note: I'm off to Rochester with my daughter for a hockey tournament this weekend. Any ideas of restaurants or other fun places to go? I'd appreciate any suggestions! Thanks!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Bake Time: 20-25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1/2-1 teaspoon espresso powder ( I used closer to 1/2)

• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar

• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

• 1/4 cup milk

• 1 large egg

• 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese, room temperature

• 1 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

The Recipe

1.  Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.

2.  Mix flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.

3.  Using an electric mixer, on medium speed combine, bananas, both sugars, butter, milk, egg and mascarpone, until well mixed together. On low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until there are barely any streaks of flour visible. Don't over mix. Remove from mixer and fold in chips with a rubber spatula.

4.  Pour the batter into the lined muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out cake-free (it may have some melted chocolate stuck to it--that's ok.)

5.  Let cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes and then remove muffins from pan onto rack to cool completely.

6.  I think these are best eaten the day they are made but they will keep for several days covered at room temperature or longer in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted only slightly from Annie Eats http://www.annies-eats.com/2009/03/11/banana-espresso-chocolate-chip-muffins/