These mini chocolate banana brownie muffins are the perfect soft treat! They are so moist, full of flavor, and SO easy to make!
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I’m always looking for ways to use up ripe bananas and decided to turn my recent ripe batch into a chocolatey treat. I’ve been making these chocolate chip oat muffins pretty often and we love them, but I wanted to test out a chocolatier flavor combo – because who doesn’t love chocolate? ;). These muffins are dairy-free, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free. The ripe bananas provide the main sweetness for these muffins and the final result is a tender, brownie-like soft bite. These muffins almost melt in your mouth and all of the flavors merge together so well. This is one of those treats that I intended on making for the boys but ended up eating most of the batch of myself 😉 If you’re a chocolate lover, you’ll definitely love this healthy treat!
Table of Contents
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WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Here is what you’ll need to make these mini chocolate banana brownie muffins:
- Almond Flour: Provides nutty flavor and moistness to the muffins. I always use the Kirkland brand blanched almond flour!
- Bananas: The main source of sweetness for these muffins. Make sure to use bananas covered in several brown spots. We want ALL the brown spots for the best sweetness!
- Eggs: Used as a binder to help hold the muffins together.
- Maple Syrup: Optional ingredient for a little added sweetness to the muffins.
- Baking Powder: Leavening agents to help the muffins rise.
- Chocolate Chips: An optional ingredient for added sweetness. I used mini chocolate chips for these mini muffins, but you may use regular chocolate chips.
PROCESS
- Mash the bananas in a bowl until they are smooth.
- Add in the eggs and maple syrup to the bowl with the bananas and mix until combined.
- Add in the almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and baking powder and mix until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
- Scoop the mixture evenly into a mini muffin pan and sprinkle the top with a few extra chocolate chips if you’d like.
- Bake the muffins at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely before removing them from the muffin pan.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS
Let the muffins completely cool and store them in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the fridge. To freeze, store in a freezer-safe Ziploc bag once cooled for up to 3 months. To reheat, simply microwave the muffins for 20-30 seconds, or until warmed through!
SUBSTITUTIONS
- Eggs: You may replace the eggs with a flax egg. To make a flax egg, combine 3 tablespoons of water with 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed. Let the mixture sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes until it forms a gel-like texture.
- Almond flour: If your little one is allergic to nuts, or you’d like to use an alternative to almond flour, try this similar recipe for chocolate chip oat muffins which uses oat flour instead!
- Chocolate chips: You may replace the chocolate chips with chopped nuts or omit them altogether!
- Maple syrup: The maple syrup adds a little extra sweetness to the muffins, but may be omitted. If you are omitting the maple syrup, be sure to use bananas that are overripe with several brown spots for maximum sweetness.
RECIPE NOTES
- These muffins contain unsweetened cocoa powder which does contain a small amount of caffeine. The amount of caffeine in the amount of cocoa powder used is small and the amount in each individual muffin serving is even smaller, but keep this in mind and offer at your discretion.
- This recipe makes 30 mini muffins. You may make regular-sized muffins by adding a few more minutes to the total bake time.
- If you’d like a smoother batter, you may blend your bananas beforehand before combining them with the rest of the ingredients. I love using this nutribullet blender to blend the ingredients to make smooth batters.
- I like to use a silicone muffin pan to bake these muffins as they pop out easily without any sticking. If using a regular mini muffin pan, be sure to coat with a cooking spray beforehand.
Here are some other easy muffin recipes you may like!
Mini Chocolate Banana Brownie Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 medium overripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup unsweetenend cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
- Mash the bananas in a bowl until smooth.
- Add in the eggs, and maple syrup to the bowl with the bananas and mix until combined.
- Add in the almond flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and baking powder and mix until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
- Scoop the mixture evenly into a mini muffin pan and sprinkle the top with a few extra chocolate chips if you’d like.
- Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let them cool completely before removing them from the muffin pan.
Notes
- These muffins contain unsweetened cocoa powder which does contain a small amount of caffeine. The amount of caffeine in the amount of cocoa powder used is small and the amount in each individual muffin serving is even smaller, but keep this in mind and offer at your discretion.
- This recipe makes 30 mini muffins. You may make regular-sized muffins by adding a few more minutes to the total bake time.
- If you’d like a smoother batter, you may blend your bananas beforehand before combining them with the rest of the ingredients. I love using this nutribullet blender to blend the ingredients to make smooth batters.
- I like to use a silicone muffin pan to bake these muffins as they pop out easily without any sticking. If using a regular mini muffin pan, be sure to coat with a cooking spray beforehand.
I just made these and they are tasty! I have a metal pan and for me it only made 24 muffins (which is plenty!).
I put a little less than 1/4 cup of cocoa powder since my kiddo hasn’t ever had it, I didn’t want it to be too bitter for her. I also put 1.5tsp of maple syrup (instead of 2TBPS), and it’s sweet enough 🙂
I will be stealing these if my kiddo doesn’t like them – but I am sure she will.
I’m so happy that you liked these muffins! And thank you so much for sharing those modifications, I’m sure others will find them helpful! Thanks for sharing your great review, Melody!😊
These are so so so good! Made them exactly as the recipe stated and thought they were perfect. Will definitely be trying the other muffin recipes as well! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed these muffins! Thanks for sharing your great feedback, Beverly😊
Love these and so easy to make! I added peanut butter chips instead of chocolate chips because, hello, banana, chocolate and peanut butter = heavenly trio! Thank you for the recipe, Lily!!
I love the idea of peanut butter chips that sounds amazing!! I’m so happy that you enjoyed these, thanks for sharing your great review, Sarah!😊
Hi, I was wondering if you had to use almond flour or if you could use oat flour or regular flour. What is the reasoning behind the almond?
Thanks!
Hi Kay! The almond flour is used to obtain a moist, soft, brownie-like texture in these muffins! It also adds a nice subtle nutty flavor to the muffins! I wanted them to be more like a melt-in-your-mouth brownie texture as opposed to a chocolate cake texture, but I’m sure a different flour could work as well (though I haven’t tested this out just yet myself). I’d love to know if you try them out!😊
if I wanted to add peanut butter to these, do you know what would be an adequate amount?
Hi Mary! I haven’t tested them out with peanut butter, so I can’t say for sure, but I’d suggest starting with a couple of tablespoons so that it doesn’t affect the texture of the batter too much. I hope they turn out well if you try them out!