Banana Muffins

My favorite banana is a ripe banana. They're perfect for making muffins, cakes, and breads, amongst many other tasty treats. Plus, what's great about this recipe is that it doesn't have an overwhelming banana flavor, it's much more subtle, which I appreciate since I didn't always enjoy this fruit.

Banana Muffins
Adapted from Betty Crocker "Heart Health Edition Cookbook"
12 Servings (1 muffin each)

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 cup mashed bananas (roughly 2 medium bananas)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Grease with shortening, spray with cooking oil, or line with paper baking cups 12 medium muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, beat egg, oil, and milk until well mixed. As a side note, I usually try to add the egg first in recipes so that if there's any problems with the egg it doesn't ruin the entire recipe.

3. Mash in the bananas. For this step I highly recommend using a potato masher, as a whisk does not work well at all...

4. Stir in sugar, baking powder, and salt, making sure that any big sugar clumps are broken down. Next, add the flour, stirring only until it is moistened. This step is critical! Over mixing the flour will cause the muffins to become tough and heavy.

5. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. I find that this is best done with an ice cream scoop (which I bought specifically for baking!).

6. According to the original recipe these should bake for 20-25 min, or until golden brown, but mine were done in roughly 10-15 min since my oven runs very hot (yes, I tried to compensate, but still nothing works to fix this problem, so frustrating!!).

7. Once done, transfer to wire rack for cooling down. This should be done immediately if using paper baking cups, or about 5 minutes after being removed if not using paper baking cups.

8. Enjoy!

~ These muffins can also be frozen for a longer shelf life and quickly reheated as needed in the microwave.

preparing for the freezer 

Nutritional Info per Serving:

Calories 160; Total Fat 5g; Cholesterol 18mg; Sodium 194mg; Total Carbs 27g; Protein 3g