Does the World Really Need Another Banana Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe?

What if she's vegan and so simple to throw together it hurts (read: one bowl)

Loosha fell hard and had to get stitches two days ago. A harrowing event no matter how you look at it - but she is 100% ok and so am I, thanks for asking. Apparently, when your kid (or any loved one) gets injured you acquire immediate superhuman strength. You are somehow no longer yourself!? Suddenly, you are confident that you can drive your car with one hand and use the other to sop blood off of the face and arms of your 2 year old in their car seat. You can manifest snacks and water with a single nose twitch and you do all of this while calling ahead to the urgent care and trying not to show an iota of panic in your voice. Real life superhero stuff.

Kids are bound to get booboos. As soon as they are on their own two feet they are falling down. In this case, the front wheel of her scooter caught the lip of a sidewalk and up and over the handlebars she flew. Frankly, could have been worse.

The worst part of seeing your kid in pain or scared is that you can’t immediately fix it. You exert countless hours day and night trying to save them from moments of suffering from the day they are born. But accidents happen and are bound to happen more than I can count. My job was to make her feel safe the entire time, which I think I did very well at. How do I know? Because Loosha spent much of the time in the waiting room singing songs from The Sound of Music and either eating candy or trying to feed me candy. Kids!

We made these muffins the day before the big spill and honestly have nothing to do with this story, I just wanted to share it anyway. Consider this newsletter an homage to the blogs and recipes of the early aughts, lol. But they are so freaking good and perfectly banana-y and I can slurp a whole one down without even chewing.

If you are someone who has had to take care of someone else recently, nurse a sick kid back to health, had to overcome fear to get a loved one to safety, or hold someone’s hand while they cried and recited the entire story of The Jungle Book in their ear as a distraction making sure to skip the ‘scary parts’ in your re-telling while their tiny chin was poked and prodded, then this recipe is for you and you alone. Grab your old bananas, a bowl of your choosing, and get to mashing - you could probably use the release.

One Bowl Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (Vegan)

*makes 12 muffins or two loaf pans

4 bananas
1/3 cup olive oil (plus more for the pan)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon clear vinegar
splash of water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
big pinch of salt
handful of dark chocolate chunks (or chips)

• Preheat your oven 350F

• Mash the bananas in a bowl until creamy, some lumps are ok, don’t work too hard

• Add brown sugar, olive oil, vinegar, water, vanilla, and cinnamon and mix until creamy and combined

• To this bowl add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix it all up gently until the flour is combined and no longer streaky, but don’t over mix

• Oil the muffin cups with a little more olive oil (get the walls and the top of the muffin pan as well)

• Dump in your mixture and fill to the tippy top of each cup

• Top with a couple of chocolate chips

• Bake for 20-25 minutes until nicely browned and no longer wet in the middle

• Let cool for 15 minutes on a rack and pop out using a spoon to gently pry the delicate muffin from the cup to finish cooling. Eat while warm or store in an airtight container. Feel better ;)