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You can NEVER have enough muffin recipes.
There is always one muffin flavor that you have to try and this peanut butter and chocolate banana muffin is it!
I have a soft (and sweet spot) for bakery style muffins.
I’m always trying to recreate the big dome top at home and I truly think I’ve figured it out.
You gotta start with high heat and you have to have some sort of acid in the batter to interact with the leavening agent.
All three of those together make the top of the oven poof up initially.
At least this is what I think. I don’t bake often because I don’t really like the science behind it.
But, the more I try baking, I’m starting to like the little scientific discoveries that I’m uncovering.
Now that I’ve talked your ear off about how I developed these peanut butter and chocolate banana muffins, let’s get to it!
Tell me about these peanut butter and chocolate banana muffins
Besides have the classic bakery dome top, they’re the type of muffins you dream of.
Soft and tender on the inside, kind of crusty on the exterior, and filled with the utmost amount flavor of peanut butter, banana, and chocolate.
Pop them in the toaster oven in the morning to warm back up and then add a knob of butter in the middle.
Omg. So good.
Can I make these peanut butter and chocolate banana muffins gluten-free?
I’m not familiar with gluten-free baking so I honestly don’t know if the texture would be off or anything.
However, I imagine you could substitute the regular flour for gluten-free flour since everything else in this recipe is gluten-free.
Why is the temperature so high?
Because that is how you get the high dome initially!
My peanut butter doesn’t really swirl
Heat it up in the microwave for a little bit and then it’ll become more “liquidy” and “swirl-able”
How ripe should the bananas be for peanut butter and chocolate banana muffins?
Pretty darn ripe. Pretty much black!
If you have some yellow spots left and a lot of brown, that’s fine too but black is the best kind of ripe.
What if I only have two bananas?
Umm, it MAY still work but I made it with three so I’m not sure.
What if I don’t have buttermilk?
You can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Stir and let sit for 10 minutes.
What kind of peanut butter can I use?
You’re gonna want to use the peanut butter like Jif.
Not the natural peanut butter.
You can use crunchy if you prefer but I used smooth. Crunchy means more texture for the muffins!
Mine didn’t rise as high as yours.
It will vary. All ovens vary.
Can I use muffin liners instead of cutting parchment paper?
Yep! I just thought it looked prettier with parchment squares but you totally don’t have to go through the hassle.
If I used parchment squares, how do you put them in the muffin pan?
So, if you cut the parchment paper into 3×3 squares, put one over a muffin insert then with your fist, gently push the parchment paper down in the center and it kind of “forms” around the muffin insert. It won’t totally stay until you drop batter in. It also helps if you crush up the parchment paper before trying to put it into the muffin insert.
THE PUDDLE OF CHOCOLATE IS SO DREAMY!
More banana recipes if you’re loving this peanut butter and chocolate banana muffin:
- Double dark chocolate banana muffins
- Healthy coconut banana bread
- Banana peanut butter date smoothie
- Biscoff crunch banana bread
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Banana Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all purpose flour
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (220 g) dark brown sugar
- 3 ripe bananas, smashed
- ⅓ cup (76 g) butter, melted
- ⅓ cup (79 ml) vegetable oil
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoons (178 ml) buttermilk
- ¼ cup (65 g) peanut butter, plus more for swirling
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¾ cup (128 g) chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 °F (218 °C). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners or parchment paper. Lightly spray with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mash bananas then add melted butter, vegetable oil, buttermilk, peanut butter, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk all together until combined.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then add the wet ingredients. Using a spatula, gently fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture and continue until the batter is formed and everything is just incorporated. Stir and fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Using a large cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way full and add more chocolate chunks on top, if desired. Using the extra peanut butter, put about 1/4 teaspoon of peanut butter in the center then using a toothpick, gently swirl and drag the peanut butter through the top of the batter. Repeat for all muffins.
- Bake at 425 °F (218 °C) for 5 minutes then take down the temperature to 400 °F (204 °C) and bake for an additional 13 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let cool in muffin pan for 10 minutes then remove muffins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
I cant even begin to describe how amazing these muffins are. Absolutely delish. I got 12 normal size and 18 minis, which my young one loves just as much as I do. Thank you for sharing!
These muffins are life changing!!! They are sooooo good!! My husband does not like regular chocolate so I made some with white choc chips and it was still amazing!!
These are awesome!!!
Way too moist!! Stuck to wrappers & did not come out a whole muffin!!
Did you spray the muffin liners?
Going to make these tonight, but is there a reason not to use natural peanut butter? It’s what we have in the house, but if it would make a big difference I could buy some of the other PB. Is it the oils in the natural?
Yeah, the oils make the batter more liquidy but honestly, doesn’t hurt to try it. You may just have to bake it slightly longer since the batter might be more liquidy. You could also cut back on the vegetable oil if you do use natural PB – let me know how it turns out! xx
Made a batch tonight, regular and mini muffins. Delicious!! Did some with and without pb swirl. Delicious! My tops were not as crispy as yours appear. I’m going to make another batch this week and I’ll post back if the tops are crispier.
Yay!
What did you use as a bake time for the mini muffins!
I just pulled these out of the oven and they looked and smelled so heavenly that before I knew it, I was stuffing one in my mouth! It most definitely did not disappoint! Absolutely scrumptious!
Ahh love this!!
What a delicious combination for muffins! I’m looking forward to making these! I could be missing something, but I don’t see anything in the instructions about swirling? The recipe calls for more peanut butter for swirling. Thank you, Julie!
Ahh sorry! I just added it. Thanks for pointing that out :)
Absolutely wonderful! Made them once already and making again this week. While they were baking I was concerned that maybe I had over baked them as I thought they looked a little dry on top but I was wrong! Delicious, crispy top and so perfectly moist inside. Your “bakery” method worked beautifully – producing that nice, high dome. Due to life threatening peanut allergies here, I used Wow butter instead of peanut butter, which looks and tastes exactly like peanut butter. I did soften some in the microwave which made for easy swirling. A huge hit – this recipe is a keeper. Thank you Julie!
So great to hear! Thank you for letting me know! I’m so happy that this is a keeper for you!
I still feel like I’m missing something; the only part that talks about the peanut butter is the 1/4 cup MORE for swirling… does that mean that the 1/4 cup is in addition to another measurement of PB? Or am I overthinking?? Lol!
sorry! it’s b/c punctuation is important and i didn’t add in a comma. it’s supposed to say 1/4 cup peanut butter, more for swirling…so 1/4 cup peanut butter in the batter PLUS more for swirling. so sorry!! let me go update this.
Haha! Thank you! I sent the recipe to my sisters and one of them pointed out that maybe there should be a comma, haha! They turned out really delicious! Thanks for sharing!
I will try your recipe but need GF. So you know, chocolate can contain gluten I buy chocolate chips that are gluten free. Crazy, Gluten is hidden in so many places! That’s why 60% of population is gluten intolerant! Ghiradelli is GF on most of their products. One last thing, I make my own peanut butter so I know exactly what’s in it. I take my vitamin container with just peanuts and whip up a batch. It’s so much better than store bought. Actually, I do with all butters, ie: almond, pecan, etc.
OMG, it looks amazing! And I don’t have ripe bananas! Lol
Thanks for sharing!
Aw no! Well, you can always pop some into the oven at 250 degrees F!