Vegan Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins.

Friday is calling for these Vegan Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins.

Because everyone needs a little chocolate with their bananas. It’s true!

Also very true? Chocolate is a must at the end of a long week…or just long days for that matter. This past week was filled with so many things. A lot of time was spent in the kitchen, and a lot of time was spent planning out the final details of the Studio Barn, which I am so excited about. Can I just say that the new studio kitchen is going to be insanely gorgeous. I’m the most exited I’ve ever been and so incredibly grateful for our amazing designers over at Park and Oak Design. They have done incredible things with the space and I cannot wait to show you guys soon…ish.

We are hoping/praying/crossing our fingers that the space will be complete by the end of February. We have a big shoot planned that I’m pretty excited about, but as with most construction projects there have been set backs, headaches, and workers that don’t show up until noon and leave at four. So we are running around like crazy people, trying to get everything done. And when I say we, I really mean my mom, Jen, aka HBH’s other half (literally) who has taken lead on the studio project. We spent the week going back and forth on finalizing doors, sink faucets, lighting, and all the details.

Oh, and then we completely changed our plans for the kitchen sink…at the very last-minute, which of course was my doing…typical. I have to say though, I’m so excited about what we now have planned for the kitchen sink. It’s going to be gorgeous.

We all had our hands in a lot of different projects this week, so I’m hoping for a more chill weekend. That probably will not happen since I don’t know how to actually chill, but hey, at least I have chocolate chip banana muffins to sink my teeth into when a break is needed.

Speaking of muffins, I should probably stop rambling on and move on to chatting with you all about these muffins.

Yes, let’s do that.

Because these muffins? These VEGAN, WHOLE WHEAT, muffins? They are really good.

Pretty sure you guys know this by now, but I really love banana bread. I think I now have three banana bread recipes up on HBH?

Yes, three…

Coconut Banana Bread.

Almond Butter Banana Bread.

7 Ingredient Ricotta Banana Bread.

Since I love banana bread so much, I thought it was time to add a banana bread muffin to the line-up.

Enter these vegan whole wheat chocolate banana bread muffins.

These muffins are light, moist, filled with banana flavor, and generously studded with dark chocolate chips. Oddly they’re also vegan, which you guys know I don’t often do many vegan recipes, but I wanted to try something new and was so very happy with how these turned out.

The key is to incorporate a flax “egg” into the batter to keep the muffins moist. A flax egg is simply just ground flax seeds mixed with a little water. The flax seeds absorb the water and turn to an egg-like consistency. If you’re new to vegan baking you will think this is weird, but just have some confidence in me. I promise all will be good.

The other secret? Using really, really ripe bananas. The bananas in the photo above? They’re not ripe enough in the least. I just forgot to take photos of my brown bananas before baking with them, I am sorry. I swear that the bananas I used were very brown.

Use brown bananas guys, BROWN. It’s OK if they have some bruises. It’s OK if they feel super mushy.

Overly ripe bananas will give you the best banana bread, whether vegan or not. Always.

It’s also important to use really good dark chocolate chips. Make sure they are vegan if this is of importance to you. Not going to lie, mine are not, but hey, they are 72% cacao, so that’s close enough for me.

I recommend eating these warm outta of the oven, with a drizzle of honey (or more maple if you’re 100% vegan) as a little night-time treat. It’s perfection with every bite…and just what your weekend needs!

Bananas and chocolate. The best. Happy Friday!