Banana Coffee Muffins

The baby is six weeks old tomorrow!  For me, six weeks is a big milestone - a little better sleep, time to start working out again, and our "new" life with the baby begins to feel a little more "normal."  In our house, part of what defines normal is when mama starts cooking again.  I planned meals for the week and took all 3 girls to the grocery store (bribing the two big ones with a donut if they listened and didn't run away) and I'm ready to go!  And, to celebrate the 6 week mark, here's a new blog post.

These days, I really look forward to a little morning caffeine pick-me-up after being up at night with the baby.  Even when it's not delivering a lot of caffeine, I like coffee flavored sweets.  A few weeks ago when I was looking at some different recipes to use up some overripe bananas, I thought this one looked unique and I made a batch of muffins.  They were good - the coffee flavor wasn't too strong and my girls liked them a lot.

Banana Coffee Muffins (makes 1 dozen)
adapted from a recipe by Paula Deen

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 T strong coffee
1 teaspoon baking soda
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mash the bananas and mix in the butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and coffee until well combined.  Sprinkle in the baking soda and stir in the flour until it's just evenly moistened.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Divide the batter between 12 muffin cups (greased or lined with paper liners) and bake for 20-30 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.