Flying Gorillas

Birthdays when I was in college were always a challenge. You see, since my birthday is in early December, it always seemed to fall on the first day of final exams or on the day before exams. In other words, my birthday was at a time when no one had the time or the inclination to celebrate. The Christmas after my 21st birthday my parents and I were shopping at the St. Louis Galleria and stopped for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. A Flying Gorilla at the Cheesecake Factory is a banana and chocolate daquiri and it was the first alcoholic drink I ever had with my parents. I think I chose to get that particular drink because it had an interesting name more than any other reason. You may have noticed from my post titles that I enjoy interesting names! =]

For the past several days my husband has been requesting that I come up with a recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins. I don't know why he suddenly began to crave that particular combination, but it works out well, since I can name that creation a Flying Gorilla. I did some recipe research online, everything from asking my friend Emily (of The View From the Thirty-Second Floor) to epicurious and foodnetwork.com. Finally, I chose to use a recipe from Tyler Florence and adapt it slightly. Overall, I was very pleased with the results. Below is the recipe from Tyler's Ultimate. Any changes I made are noted in parentheses.

Flying Gorillas

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used half whole wheat flour and half A/P)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 overripe bananas
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (I used a 6 oz. bag of walnuts and chopped them roughly)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and lightly butter 2 muffin tins. (I used paper muffin liners -- easier clean-up.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl so they still have a bit of texture. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together like you mean it, for a good 3 minutes (I whipped all four bananas, at hubby's request). Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them about halfway (I used a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to get even muffins).

Give them a rap on the counter to get any air bubbles out (this was a good idea -- I'll do this with other muffins, brownies, etc. in the future).

Bake until a toothpick stuck in the muffins comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes (these were ready after 18 minutes in my oven). Let cool for a few minutes before turning the muffins out. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These are delicious and I can't wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow.