Amazing (& Easy) Almost Caramelized Banana Muffins

We just made the most amazing muffins. I had every intention of baking them from scratch, but the bananas on the counter weren’t too ripe yet, and there was a banana bread mix staring at me. Plus, I was in the mood to experiment since I’ve had these dried banana in my pantry and wasn’t quite sure what to do with them? The muffins turned out amazing. The addition of dried bananas make the muffin flavor almost caramelized, and the consistency goes from cake-y (which is also delicious) to chewy.

"Caramelized" Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 package Trader Joe’s Banana Bread Mix*
+ 2 eggs
+ 1/3 cup vegetable oil
+ ¾ cup water
½ pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Trader Joe’s “Nothing But Banana, Flattened” (in dried fruit aisle)
Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 325. Line a muffin tin with foil or paper liners (unless you’ve got those fancy reusable ones). Prepare the banana bread according to the package, and stir in half a bag of chocolate chips. (You could do walnuts or pecans instead, but you’d be much less popular with your family.) Spoon batter halfway up muffin cups. Then, using scissors, chop a layer of the dried bananas on top of the batter. Full muffin cups with remaining batter. Sprinkle tops with a hearty shake of cinnamon. Then bake for 25-45 minutes** until the muffins are a nice rich brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

*Trader Joe’s Banana Bread mix contains: sugar, enriched flour, banana flakes, baking powder, wheat germ, wheat bran, salt and vanilla.

** I give a range on the cooking time because though my oven says it's the right temp, according to the thermometer I put in there every once in a while, everyone's oven is different. I usually use a regular "baking" setting, versus convection...and my rickety old oven always tends to take the long end of the range.