Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate and Coconut (Frosting Optional)

 My family loved these cupcakes so much... I made them twice already this week.  Well, I did have 6 very ripe bananas I needed to use up... so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Actually, it was not just the bananas I needed to use up, I also had some sour cream I got on sale that was coming close to it's expiration date. Yes, I'm one of those people that follow the expiration dates and panic when I think I will waste food.  Of course, I do waste food ((hanging my head in shame)).  I have come to realize that sometimes a "good deal" is not such a good deal if the food never gets fully utilized.   I always buy sour cream, plain yogurt and buttermilk for a recipe and once I use what I need... the remainder gets forgotten. So I am trying to be more conscientious of not wasting food and that's why this recipe was such a fantastic find for me.  I did a search on sour cream and bananas and this is the recipe I found off the Kraft website.  I played around with it a bit (since I cannot follow a recipe) and these moist and wonderful cupcakes were the result.  You can eat them "naked" or frosted.  I had to make frosting for the kids because they refused to eat naked cupcakes.  Either way, they are a wonderful treat and this will be a go-to recipe for any extra sour cream and bananas in my future.

 Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 1/4 cups sour cream
3 ripe bananas mashed
3 eggs
1/4 canola oil
1 cup chocolate chips (I used mini chips)
1 cup baking coconut flakes 

**Adapted from Kraft Recipes

Directions:

Mix the eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add the cake mix and mix until fully incorporated together. Finally add the chocolate chips and coconut and mix into batter.  Then add cupcake liners (I recommend foil liners) in cupcake pans and fill 3/4 full.  Bake  at 350 degrees for 19-23 minutes or until done. You can eat them just as they are without any frosting.  Enjoy.

Whipped Chocolate Frosting:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 Tbs milk or half and half
2 cups prepared whipped topping or COOL WHIP.

Melt chocolate over double boiler or in microwave with milk or half and half. When chocolate starts to melt, stir well until smooth.  Allow chocolate to cool a bit before mixing with whipped topping.  Allow Frosting to set up in fridge for 30 minutes before frosting cupcakes. I suggest you frost as many cupcakes as you need at a time because this frosting does not do well sitting out.  You can always use a prepared canned frosting or make a buttercream frosting.  Enjoy.

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