In which we eat chocolate for breakfast

I'm not sure what to call these muffins . . . full of bananas and cocoa, moist and (sort of) wholesome, completely scrumptious.

Choconana? Banocolate?

Bachocana?

I give up. 

Banana Cocoa Muffins
(from For the Love of Cooking, with several changes) 

1/3 cup melted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 medium bananas, mashed*
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour**
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder***

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray.
2) Beat together butter and sugar thoroughly; add egg and beat again. Add mashed bananas and stir to combine.
3) Whisk together remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Add to banana mixture and stir just until smooth.
4) Pour or scoop batter into prepared muffin pan. Bake 18-20 minutes, until the muffins are soft and springy to the touch, but not wet.
5) Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes. Run knife around edges and slide out of pan; let cool completely on wire rack.

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These freeze well. I made a double batch and popped most of them into my freezer, with parchment paper between the layers. I put them in my husband's lunchbox still frozen, and by the time he is ready to eat, they are thawed.

And yes, they make a good breakfast alongside eggs or a smoothie. Less than a tablespoon of raw sugar per muffin, which is more than biscuits or regular muffins, but nowhere near as much as a doughnut-- a nice compromise. :)

*The riper the better.
**Or 1 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup unbleached. 

{image credit: Fernando Stankuns on Flickr}