Recipe: Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Muffins

This recipe is a modified version of one that I've loved since I was a kid and my mom first taught me how to make muffins! The core of the technique is from the Magnificent Muffins Cookbook, which offers endless variations on basic muffin recipes. I've tried a bunch of the recipes in the book, but I just keep going back to this one as my favourite.

Yield: 12 muffins
Oven temperature: 350F (180C)
Baking time: 25 minutes for muffins, 50 for loaf

Dry mixture:

• AP flour - 1 cup
• Whole Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Baking Soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Dark Chocolate Chips - 1 cup
• Walnuts - 1 cup

Moist mixture:

• Margarine - 1/4 cup
• Applesauce - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 3/4 cup
• Eggs - 2 large
• Vanilla - 1 tsp
• Mashed ripe or frozen bananas - 3 or 4 bananas (=1 cup)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease pan (I use a little canola oil, spread around with a paper towel)
   
2. In a large bowl, mix together the first three dry ingredients
3. Stir in chocolate chips & walnuts; set dry mix aside
   
4. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, applesauce and sugar with an electric mixer
5. Beat in eggs, one at a time
6. Add mashed bananas and vanilla to moist mixture
7. Add moist mix to dry mix all at once; stir until batter is moist but still lumpy
8. Pour batter into greased loaf pan or 12-cup muffin tin (cups should be 3/4 full)
9. Bake 25 minutes for muffins, 50 minutes for loaf (or until tester inserted in the middle comes out clean)