Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

Sour cream... I never thought that it would actually work out well in a recipe. But the other week I was chatting with my mom over the phone and telling her of my baking experience with sour cream when she insisted that I try her recipe for banana muffins. I had some friends coming over on the Easter weekend so I decided it was a perfect time to bake... Means I don't have to eat all 12 muffins by myself! ;-)

Well my mom's recipes are always healthier than mine so I replaced the nuts and cranberries with chocolate chips instead. =P You'll have to play around with the amount of the 'optional ingredients' used as the original recipe called for 1/2 cup nuts, 1/2 cup cranberries. But instead I used 1/2 cup chocolate chips and that turned out fine.

Ingredients (makes around 12 muffins):
76g butter, at room temperature
113g sugar (use less if adding chocolate chips)
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas (2 bananas made up a cup but I personally thought that more would taste better)
2 cups plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
1 tsp baking soda, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped nuts, optional
1/3 cup dried cranberries, optional
1/3 cup chocolate chips, optional
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/177C.
2. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter until fluffy. Add in sugar and beat for about 2 minutes.
3. Add in eggs and vanilla extract and blend until well mixed.
4. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
5. Add in bananas and sour cream until the mixture is just moist (i.e. don't over-mix!)
6. Add in your optional ingredients.
7. Fill the prepared muffin liners about 3/4 full.
8. Bake for 25 minutes.