Banana Pineapple Chocolate Chip Muffins or cupcakes Recipe

Posted by This is a go to recipe when I have to clean out my freezer (perfect time to do it in this frigid weather!) and find a plantation worth of frozen ripened bananas tucked into odd nooks and crannies... or just have some overripe bananas taunting me from the kitchen counter.  You can easily make this into a banana bread with a loaf pan, but the time spent spooning them out into muffin sleeves or mini cupcake paper.. is faaar less than waiting an hour or so for a traditional loaf to bake... plus, you get the bonus of having easy on the run bite (or bites depending on how big your cupcake papers are) to toss into lunches or spoil the folks at the office with.  Leave them un-iced and they're muffins.. ice them and they're cupcakes!
This recipe was originally modified from an old Red Robin recipe, turning down the fat, up-ing the flavors. With this recipe I was able to make a dozen regular sized cupcake "muffins" and countless mini cupcakes. If you're using regular sized muffin papers, depending on how full you fill them, you should be able to get 3-4 dozen muffins/cupcakes to nosh on... I used both silcone muffin bake ware (they turned out really tall and fluffy), but I liked just using the regular non-stick muffin tins and the mini non-stick muffin tins.

Ingredients:
-3 cups (750 mL) Flour
-2 cups (500 mL) sugar
-1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
-1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda
-1 tsp (5 mL) salt
-1 cup (250 mL) crushed, undrained pineapple (use golden pineapple for more sweetness)
-3 eggs
-1/2 cup (125 mL) canola oil
-1 medium apple or pear: grated (or run it thru a food processor) or 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
-2 cups (500 mL) ripe, mashed banana - about 3-4 bananas
-2 Tbsp (30 mL) vanilla extract
-1 Tbsp cinnamon
-1 cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

How to:
1) Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Set out your cupcake/muffin papers into your cupcake muffin pans
2) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl
3) Beat remaining ingredients together in separate large bowl until blended. Add dry ingredients, stirring until thoroughly combined
4) Fill cupcake/muffin papers 1/2 full if making cupcakes to get a flat top and 3/4 full if you want it puffing up, or pour batter into 2 loaf pans lined with parchment paper for easy to pop it out later
5) Bake in preheated oven:
-Loaf: 60-70 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean
-cupcakes/muffins: 18-20 min, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean
-mini cupcakes: 10-12 min, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean