Bananas tend to be a win-some-lose-some fruit. Some people love it, some people hate it. I think they're pretty great. Great enough to make muffins out of them...from scratch. Hopefully, if you like/love bananas, you'll like/love this recipe.
So, this recipe was originally meant to be a loaf and it was just a regular 'degular' banana bread recipe from AllRecipes.com. However, I don't have a loaf pan and muffins are more practical for my life, anyways. Plus, I wanted to make it into my own recipe.
I didn't do any research on what kind of nuts typically go into banana-nut recipes. I just figured that walnuts made the most sense and were the easiest to obtain and use. I ended up getting whole walnuts but that was just an excuse to use my pestle and mortar. So, I just threw a handful in there and mashed them up a bit. There were still large chunks of them, but they didn't seem to throw off the muffin, so it was fine. I think the next time I make this recipe I'll roast the nuts to bring more flavor and oils out of them.
Spices, to me are essential, so I made sure to add them into the recipe since the original didn't call for any spices, at all. Shocking. I know. Slightly appalling as well. I didn't go crazy, just wanted to give the muffin a little more flavor than butter and bananas. So, of course, I added the common vanilla extract and cinnamon duo. I also added in some nutmeg to add to the coziness of the flavor. Feel free to add whatever spices you think would taste great in this recipe. Those were just the top three that popped into my head when putting everything together. Keep in mind that nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla combined tend to have a "Christmas-y" flavor, so don't add too much of the 'meg (unless you're going for that vibe, then by all means, do you). An equal, small amount of each should do the trick. You don't want anything to overpower the banana, just compliment it.
One of the "biggest" changes I made to this recipe was melting the butter. Butter is amazing. Melted butter is even more-so. I feel like this added more moisture to the muffin and you definitely get the buttery feeling when you bite into it. You don't have to melt the butter, you can just cream it with the sugar before adding it to the dry ingredients. Do whatever excites you. For me? That's melted butter and sugar. Also, I used dark brown sugar. You can use light, too but I wanted a richer flavor, so I went with dark.
These muffins come out nice and steamy and to me they taste best fresh off the press. You can eat them however you like and you can always reheat them. I just throw mine in the microwave for a few seconds, but I'm sure you could do the same in the oven for a few minutes on a low temperature (somewhere between 200 F to 300 F). My boyfriend just grabs them straight out of the bowl and has them that way. I store mine at room temperature, so it isn't off-putting to eat without being heated.
To be honest with you, my boyfriend ate more of these muffins than I did. He really enjoys banana nut, as in prefers this flavor over other muffin types. So, this recipe was a success in that regard since someone just couldn't get enough of them. Personally, I just think they taste pretty good and make an excellent grab-and-go breakfast option. I hope you all enjoy this recipe. I'm interested to know what your favorite muffin types are, so let me know down in the comments. If you try out this recipe, let me know how it turned out!
Thank you for being here. I appreciate you. Have a most Sunny day!
Banana-Nut Muffins
Ingredients
all purpose flour, 2 cups
baking soda, 1 teaspoon
salt, 1/4 teaspoon
pure vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon
ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon
ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon
melted unsalted butter, 1/2 cup
dark brown sugar, 3/4 cup
beaten eggs, 2
mashed overripe bananas, 2 1/3 cups
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C) and lightly grease two 2x3 cupcake tins. (If you want smaller muffins you can go for a larger grid; i.e 3x4, but still use two of them. I had batter left over for one more muffin so I just put it in a small ramekin and it came out perfect.)
2) In a large-enough bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3) In a separate bowl combine your melted butter with the dark brown sugar. Add in your spices and vanilla extract, then stir in your mashed bananas and beaten eggs until well combined.
4) Stir your wet mixture into your dry ingredients; just enough to moisten. Pour the batter into the prepared cupcake tins, filling them about 3/4 of the way. (I like to fill mine to the brim since the muffins don't rise that much.)
5) Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick (or butter knife) inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack (or in the tin) for a few seconds or for 10 minutes depending on how eager you are to eat them.
6) Enjoy with a little bit of salted butter or just bite straight in. It pairs well with milk (I had it with unsweetened almond milk and it was divine.)
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