Big City, Little Kitchen

Sometimes a creation comes about as a result of guilt:  in this case, I had two pitiful, overripe bananas that, despite their brown skins, I was loathe to throw away–it just seemed so wasteful.  As such, they finally met their fate, mashed and baked into mini versions of Dorie Greenspan’s Coco-Nana Bread.  As luck would have it, the riper the banana, the better the bread, and a generous scoop of high-quality cocoa powder certainly doesn’t hurt.  These are alluringly cupcake-looking and, as Dorie explains in the recipe’s prologue, taste first of chocolate, the banana flavor revealing itself a bit later. 

Mini Chocolate-Banana Breads (adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Coco-Nana Bread in Baking, From My Home to Yours) 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup high-quality cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tb) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a twelve-muffin tin.

Mash bananas in a small bowl and set aside.  Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside.  In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla extract then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in banana-mash.  Reduce mixer to low speed and add half of the flour mixture, and beat until just combined.  Add buttermilk and beat until incorporated, then add remaining flour mixture, beating until just combined.

Spoon into muffin tin, filling each cup nearly to the top; you might have a little batter left over.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until puffed and an inserted cake tester comes out clean.  These are best served warm on the day they are made, but they keep well, covered, for up to 3 days.