Banana, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Chip Muffins

I know things have been really quiet around here lately, too quiet. I have a confession to make. I have moved. Well...sort of. I have spent the better part of the last four months trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, at this point I might as well say "if I grow up". I knew I didn't want to go back to "professional" life. The idea of spending the rest of my working life in a position where I only get two weeks off a year, and being totally stressed out about my job those whole two weeks was definitely something I was not eager to return to. I thought that I could possibly make this space earn enough income that I wouldn't have to go back to work. I'll let you in on a little secret, it takes some seriously hard work to make a living as a food blogger. I'm happy to be at a place where this space provides a nice supplemental income, and I think if I had another six months to work on it, I may just have made it. I thought about moving to Maine, I applied for another Executive Director job here in Alaska. Neither felt "right". Something was calling to me, something I couldn't really explain. I really wanted to return to Denali National Park. I had worked here years ago, and the place has always pulled at my heartstrings. So, I decided to take a seasonal position with a non-profit right outside the park. I'm hoping that it will possibly lead to something more permanent. Right now I am just enjoying testing the waters. I'm still only a two hour drive from Fairbanks, so I am sure I'll be spending some weekends in our Fairbanks home. I'm also looking forward to doing some exploring on this end of the park. The last time I worked in Denali I was 90 miles west of here. Right now, I am just settling in. It's still the off season, so no running water or real kitchen facilities are available right now. Once I get back in the swing of things I hope to post more often.
I made these muffins on a trip back to Fairbanks last weekend. When I got home there some pretty brown bananas sitting on the counter. I would normally just make my standard banana bread, but because I was leaving and  it would be up to David to eat it after I left, I decided that I would have to make something with chocolate in it. If I were to make these muffins again, I probably would make them right in the pan, rather than use cupcake papers that you see in the photos. They were really good, but they really stuck to the paper. You can also spray the paper if you really want to use them. The thing I liked about these is despite the additions of peanut butter and chocolate, they weren't overly sweet. They still felt like a good choice for breakfast.

Banana, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from Cooking Light

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two muffin pans with butter or cooking spray, one 12 cup and one 6 cup pan. Combine banana, yogurt, peanut butter, butter, and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer; beat at medium speed. Add granulated and brown sugars; beat until blended. In a medium bowl; combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide batter evenly amongst muffin cups. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and let cool completely. Makes 18 muffins.

Alternately for a loaf: Pour batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack. Remove bread from pan; cool.