Chocolate, Banana and Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients

• 300g Banana, Raw, Flesh Only, Average
• 1g Salt, Table, Average
• 250g Flour, White, Self Raising, Average
• 100g Sugar, Light Muscovado, Tesco
• 1 Egg/68g Eggs, Free Range, Large, Average, Weight with Shell
• 250ml Milk, Skimmed, Average
• 62.5g Cocoa Powder, Bournville, Cadbury
• 1 Tsp/4g Vanilla Extract, Average
• 100g Chocolate, Milk, Average

Method

1. Add the flour, salt, sugar and cocoa into a mixing bowl. If you're going to mix the muffins by hand, it's a good idea to sift the dry ingredients also.
2. Mash bananas. I do this with a fork - it can be a bit rough although no big lumps should remain. Measure milk into a jug, add the banana and vanilla extract. Once combined, add the egg and beat lightly to mix.
3. Pour liquid ingredients into bowl of dry ingredients and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth - I use my Kitchenaid mixer for this. The batter should be quite wet: if too stiff, add a splash more milk. Don't worry if it looks too runny!
4. Once the batter is made, add the chocolate, chopped or crumbled into small bits (or use choc chips). Mix briefly to combine evenly.
5. Dollop spoonfuls of batter into 12 x silicon muffin moulds. N.B. I say silicon for a reason! this mixture is almost fat free. As a result, even paper muffin cases become welded to it! If you want to use metal tins, that's fine, but they will need greasing well (which of course adds calories) and lining with good quality non-stick paper. Don't panic if there appears to be a lot of mixture! The mixture rises in the centre, but not at the edges. So you can fill the muffin moulds to within a mm of the brim, and they won't overflow.
6. Bake on 170 C, until a cocktail stick or skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean. Check muffins for the first time after around 20 minutes, although they could take up to 35.
7. Leave to cool in the "tins". Although the cakes will have risen, as they cool they will shrink back.