Mini food is so poppable. One after the other, down they go.
That darn mini food. But it’s so small that the calories don’t even count. Exactly.
I’m so happy with how these little puffballs turned out. They’re soft, springy, bouncy like little trampolines, and they’re vegan.
Sometimes vegan baked goods, especially muffins or cakes, are terribly dense. Lead balloons come to mind. When removing eggs, it’s easy to also remove lightness and fluffiness. However, no eggs here, and they’re as soft and fluffy as any traditional muffin.
Making them is literally a 5 minute job and because they’re mini, they bake very fast. You’re looking at 15 minutes from start to finish. Gotta love speedy muffins and recipes that don’t dirty every dish in your kitchen.
They freeze beautifully so you might want to make a double batch and freeze half for snacks and grab-and-go breakfasts.
The whisk-together batter comes together so quickly and easily in one bowl. No mixer, no hassle. It’s a great vegan ‘master batter’ and you can adapt it by switching up the chocolate chips for diced dried fruit or nuts. Glaze them or brush them with (vegan) melted butter and dip them in cinnamon-sugar like these.
To make the batter, simply mash one banana, then add sugar, coconut oil, almond milk, vanilla, and cinnamon before stirring in the dry ingredients and the mini chocolate chips.
The banana behaves like an egg to both fluff the batter and bind the ingredients, while keeping the muffins light and fluffy.
The muffins don’t taste like banana. I couldn’t taste it at all, and I was looking for it. I used a fairly non-ripe banana. Pale yellow, and no black freckles. The riper bananas get, the sweeter they become, and also the more distinctively banana-ey they are, and it’s harder to mask. Many people only bake with very ripe bananas, but in recipes that I don’t want to taste overly banana-ey, I’ll use under to averagely-ripe bananas.
I used coconut oil as the fat source and I’m no stranger to using it in muffins, cakes, bread, cookies and more. I love baking with it, and replace it 1:1 with butter or other oil. While I usually say that you can’t taste it, you definitely can taste it here. There’s no strong spices, pumpkin puree, or anything else to make the flavor, and it’s noticeable.
For anyone who likes coconut oil, you’ll love these. It gently perfumes the muffins and adds a faintly sweet under-current of tropical flavor. It’s not overwhelming and I love it, but in full disclosure, you can taste it. If you absolutely don’t want to use coconut oil, I’m sure that you could sub with vegetable or canola oil.
I used Nutiva Coconut Oil from iHerb.com. Code AVE630 at checkout saves you $10 off your order. I love iHerb for everything like probiotics, bulk cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, liquid vanilla stevia drops, bulk white stevia powder, medicinal fancy-grade honey, chia seeds, face cleanser, and nutritional yeast.
I used mini chocolate chips because full-size chocolate chips could overwhelm these little one-bite wonders. If all you have is regular chips, run a knife over them and give them a coarse chop so the big chips don’t sink to the bottom of the mini pans.
I used two Non-Stick Mini Muffin Pans. I filled the cavities to 3/4 full. It’s a little tricky filling mini muffin pans because small amounts of batter can dramatically alter results. Underfilling and the already small muffins become a skimpy joke, while overfilling can cause mushroom top where the tops bake together on top of the pan and your muffins look like conjoined mushrooms. Admit it, you’ve done it. Just do your best here.
If you’re baking in a full size pan, you’ll need to extend the baking time by a few minutes and bake until they’re done, whatever that means in your oven and your chosen pan.
Before baking I sprinkled all the tops with chocolate chips because I wanted the visual pop of chocolate. We eat first with our eyes and my eyes liked seeing all those glistening mini chips on top of the fluffy muffins.
They’re ridiculously moist, springy, tender, delicate and light, without being airy, and as good as any traditional muffin with eggs and butter. They’re sweet, satisfying, and with the undercurrent of coconut oil flavor, I couldn’t resist them.
24 mini muffins did not even last 24 hours.
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Vegan Mini-Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup mashed ripe banana, about 1 large
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, other milks may be substituted including coconut, soy, rice, cow, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- ½ cup mini-chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling tops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray two 12-count Non-Stick Mini Muffin Pans very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pans; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners and I am not sure if the paper will stick to the muffins). Alternatively, the recipe can be made as regular-sized muffins; use a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan
- In a large bowl, mash the banana with a fork.
- Add the sugar, milk (room temp milk will prevent coconut oil from re-solidifying; if it does anyway, some small clumps are okay), oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and whisk until combined.
- Add the flour, baking powder, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
- Divide batter equally among the cavities of the prepared pans using approximately one rounded or heaping tablespoon of batter for each muffin. Each cavity will be about 3/4 full. Spraying a medium cookie scoop, with cooking spray so the batter slides right off is handy here.
- Optionally, add a pinch of chocolate chips to each muffin top.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops are domed, puffed, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs dangling but no batter. I baked for 11 minutes, but because pan sizes, climates, and ovens vary, bake until done; watch your muffins and not the clock. If you’re baking as regular-sized muffins, my guess is about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 to 15 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely. Muffins will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What’s your favorite muffin recipe?
great
These little muffins were delicious! I’m planning to make them for our Christmas party! No one will guess they are vegan!
These little muffins were delicious! I’m planning to make them for our Christmas party! No one will guess they are vegan!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad that they were delicious and you’re going to make them for your Xmas party!
Could you replace the sugar with honey or maple syrup? Thanks!
I haven’t ever tried but generally you cannot sub a liquid sugar for actual sugar because it will throw off the ratios of the wet to dry ingredients.
I made these and it came out amazing! I love them and they are so cute being mini sized
Thank you for this recipe. I doubled it and made small and large muffins with small chocolate chips. I knew that they would be good because the batter was delicious. I used coconut sugar because one of my friend will not eat white sugar and coconut milk because that was what I had left over! But used canola oil, did not have coconut oil. I think the bananas helped the muffins rise nicely. Next time I will try them gluten free and vegan because my other friend does not do gluten. Thank you for sorting out the ingredients and science of the recipe. These are a keeper!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Thanks for sharing your tweaks, i.e. coconut sugar, canola, etc. And if you do them as GF next time, LMK how that goes and what flour or flour blend you use!
Hi Averie,
The recipe calls for 1 cup plus of flour, and just wondering what the “plus” is?
It was a typo and I removed the word.
I made these today! Perfect for my toddlers snack! I actually made some with strawberries instead I’d chocolate chips which were very tasty too but tthe toddler preferred the ones with chocolate!
Thanks for trying the recipe (with strawberries too!) and I’m glad it came out great for you! And I think your toddler preferring the chocolate version is adorable :)
What if I use brown sugar?? Would it mess up with the recipe??
Thanks for the recipe BTW!!! Makes a great deal to a mom new to the allergy world!! We are now egg free and dairy free!!!
It makes me happy I’ll be able to bake something delicious to my babies!!!
I think brown sugar will be just fine. Enjoy!
Do you know how many calories per muffin?
No I don’t.
Made these 2 days ago and they’re gone already. Came back to make some more!! Looking at this recipe a second time, I THINK I added too much banana the first go – I used two, maybe I used a whole cup? But they worked out perfectly – so moist and delicious. 100% going to making these over and over.
Glad you love them and they worked perfectly with however much banana you used. It’s a pretty flexible recipe and I’ve made many versions/adaptations and it always seems to work out :)
I made these and it came out amazing! I love them and they are so cute being mini sized
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they came out amazing for you!
Hi Averie,
what a great recipe, I made these muffins and we all loved it. So I translated your recipe in German and posted it in my blog (with reference to you): https://beeingvegan.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/vegane-bananen-schoko-mini-muffins/
Hope you’re ok with that.
All the best
Lucy
Thanks for trying the recipe and translating! I’m sure it will help someone out :)
Could I use rapeseed oil instead of coconut/veg/canola oil? Thanks!
I don’t know for sure because I haven’t tried it but you’d probably be okay.
Averie, these are really good! Your “little trampoline” descriptor made me remember these, so when I realized we were out of eggs this morning I decided to whip up a batch with my nearly 2-year-old daughter. They were perfect for her to help mix – nice and simple, one bowl, though she refused to mash banana for some reason ;). I also realized we were out of any sort of milk so I did have to substitute eggnog in a pinch, which worked out fine. We opted to add the salt, which I think helped cut the sweetness a bit. Love the texture – very bouncy indeed, the tiniest bit of sugary crust on the top. My daughter just asked for “‘nother muffin” – and that’s a big deal with our picky eater. Thank! :)
Thanks for trying them! Sounds like you made due with what you had and yes, eggnog is quite a bit sweeter than regular milk and has much more ‘flavor’ but sounds like it worked out great! Glad you and your precious could bake together & enjoy:)
So cute! Chocolate chip muffins are probably the greatest thing ever!!
LOVE that these are vegan!!! I can’ wait to make them! I love that they are mini!!