These tender, moist banana muffins are packed with three different kinds of goodies: toasted walnuts, cinnamon chips, and chocolate chips. Chocolate and banana? Think banana split, but in muffin form so that it's suitable for breakfast for an anytime snack.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12 to 14 standard muffin cups. You'll use the larger number of cups if you include the full amount of all three add-ins: chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon chips.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar till smooth.
Beat in the mashed banana, then the egg, flavorings, and milk.
Add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flours, stirring till smooth; if the mixture has a lot of lumps, beat at a higher speed until they've nearly disappeared.
Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and cinnamon chips.
Heap the thick batter into the prepared muffin cups, mounding them quite full; a muffin scoop works well here. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with coarse white sparkling sugar, if desired.
Bake the banana muffins for 20 to 23 minutes, until a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center of one of the middle muffins in the pan comes out clean.
Remove the banana muffins from the oven, and tilt them in the pan to cool a bit; this will prevent their bottoms from becoming soggy. As soon as you can safely handle them, transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely.
Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.
To make mini banana muffins: Scoop the batter into lightly greased (or paper-lined) mini muffin pans. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until muffins test done. Yield: 30 to 35 mini muffins.
Want to temper the sweetness of these muffins by reducing their sugar? See how in our blog article, How to reduce sugar in muffins.
