Chocolate Banana Walnut Cupcakes
How is your summer going? If you’re like me, its been full of lots of outdoor time, really lovely sunsets and lots of delicious summer treats. Last weekend my boyfriend and I visited the beach. I just love this time of year. This photo was from last weekend on the Washington coast. 
Whenever we are celebrating summer like this, I craved a special treat to share on the beach. As I often do when I create food, I first scour my pantry for the ingredients I already have. Bingo! Walnuts left from my walnut dip last month, bananas to be used up and cocoa powder. Yes! These babies were born. I need to tell you one quick tip. That is that for these cupcakes and for many baked products with nuts, its important to either buy them chopped or to chop them fairly small before using them. I would suggest you go about the size of a sunflower seed for these cupcakes. You can purchase the walnuts chopped so don’t fret if you don’t feel like chopping today.
Do you like to cook with various nuts? Truly I have considered writing a cookbook with a bunch of wonderful recipes that either use various walnuts, almonds, pistachios..ect. or the oils. Walnut oil is one of the best for improving skin and hair. There are a lot of health benefits in addition to adding great light texture, flavor and a little extra vitamin boost.
Contrary to popular belief, I do not carry around a recipe in my head for cupcakes. I borrowed one from Martha Stewarts blog this time and of course I will report that the cupcakes are totally delish! I added my own spin on the recipe by adding a few other ingredients as I mentioned however it all came together nicely. I even thought a handful of mini chocolate chips in here would be really good too. Go big or go home, right? We walked on the beach all afternoon last week so these treats taste extra special after all that exercise and fresh air.
I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I did. For the frosting I used a premade simple white cake frosting. Additionally I added two tablespoons of Kaluah liquor for a little extra taste. Enjoy! 
Chocolate Banana Walnut Cupcakes
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 each medium sized ripe banana
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 3 each large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup white sugar
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with baking liners and spray with pan spray.
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On a lined baking sheet, lay out the walnuts bake them in the preheated oven for 3 minutes, Set a timer for this. The walnuts can easily burn however toasting softens them up and releases some of the delicious oils that add great flavoring to the cupcakes.
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Into a medium bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, banana and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each, then beat in vanilla. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in two batches.
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After the flour mixture is incorporated with the butter mixture, gently fold in the walnuts with a rubber spatula.
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Pour batter into cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.
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Cool in pan 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then spread with white icing using a table knife or small offset spatula. Decorate with sprinkles, if desired. I added 1 Tablespoon of Kaluah Liquor to my white icing for some fun extra flavor. Enjoy!
These cupcakes are a version of Martha Stewarts chocolate cupcakes. Lightly adapted. The original recipes can be found here: http://www.marthastewart.com/337010/chocolate-cupcakes. This blog post contains a few affiliate links which help sustain this blog.
