From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I'll spare you my rousing version of "It's A Small World After All", but I must admit I was taken aback and tempted to sing a chorus or two, when I found this recipe while having coffee in my daughter's Connecticut kitchen. I just wasn't prepared to find Cathy Pollak's recipe in a Hartford newspaper. I'm sure most of you know of Cathy, but on the odd chance that you have yet to become acquainted, I can bring you up to date. Cathy owns and operates Noble Pig, a vineyard and winery here in Oregon's Willamette Valley. She is also a freelance writer who really knows food and wine and you can follow her musings, recipes and food photographs at her blog, Noble Pig. Cathy, who apparently doesn't have a lazy bone in her body, has also started to write for the Statesman Journal, a newspaper headquartered in Salem, Oregon. The recipe for these chocolate and banana muffins caught my eye on a day when I was looking for something unusual to make, and the amount of chili powder and cayenne pepper in these muffins, certainly put them in that category. The muffins are spicy and may not be to everyone's taste, but if you are adventurous and like heat I think you are in for a real treat. The recipe makes a dense, intensely chocolate muffin that will not bore you. I made half a batch of Cathy's muffins and the Silver Fox and I really enjoyed them. I think you will too. Here is how they are made.
Spicy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Cathy Pollak via Noble Pig
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (measured by lightly spooning into a cup)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1-1/2 teaspoons chile powder
3/4 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 large very ripe bananas
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, add flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, chile powder and cayenne. Sift together to combine. Set aside.
2) In bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar, eggs, and bananas. Blend until thoroughly combined. Add flour mixture alternating with buttermilk and ending with flour. Mix just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
3) Add 1/4 cup batter to each muffin liner and bake for 25 minutes or until done.
4) Cool for five minutes in the pan and remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yield: 12 muffins.
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