I'm always buying those 3-pound bunches of bananas from Costco for $1.39 which, for the most part, only Lily and I eat.  And they all seem to reach peak ripeness at the same time, so when they start to get beyond the point being edible, it's time to get creative.  A lot get frozen for future recipes (yum.  banana "ice cream"), but the rest end tend to up in some sort of baked good.  Jake's parents gave us frozen blueberries, which are also good partners for bananas, as are pineapples.  But, by and large, chocolate and peanut butter are a banana's best companions.  This recipe sticks to chocolate, but I would love to add a swirl of PB next time.  If you have any good banana recipes, leave a comment and let me know about them!

Conveniently, I had super-ripe bananas when I was looking for something to bake for our neighbors to thank them for snow blowing our driveway (is there anything that could really fully repay a gift like that?).  I figured fresh muffins could be a good start.  They must have liked them because today our driveway was cleared again.  If spring doesn't come soon, they're going to have to buy bigger pants from all of the baked goods (and beer courtesy of my dad) that show up at their door.

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/3 cup white sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large) 1 large egg 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 1/4 cup milk 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the flour, sugars, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, mix mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, milk, and vanilla. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter among 12 lined muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake the muffins until the tops are golden and a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean (other than melted chocolate), about 30-32 minutes. Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Source: adapted from Bon Appetit