Saturday, January 1, 2011

Banana Crunch Muffins


After 2 fun-filled weeks away for the holidays, we are finally home and settled back into our tiny & cozy apartment! Although I absolutely loved visiting family and meeting up with several friends, I disliked the lack of routine. My mom has always told me that ever since a child, I've been obsessed with routine. Guess it stuck with me! One thing I was most excited for was to get back into my kitchen. Even though I have a love/hate relationship with my (broken) oven, there is something about baking in my own kitchen that relaxes me.

So, I woke up bright and early to make Ina Garten's banana crunch muffins for my husband (since he loves anything involving banana and coconut). This recipe was first shared with the girls in my family by the girls in the Clark family. The Clark girls (Holly, Kelvie, Heather and Meredith) have always been fabulous bakers who my mom, sister and I will always look up to! I am closest with Kelvie who I was thankful to see this past week while visiting PA. We went on a date night to Cosi with our hubbies :)


When you have bananas that look like this, you know it's time to make something involving banana!


Ingredients:
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
  • 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas
  • 1 cup small-diced walnuts
  • 1 cup granola
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • (dried banana chips, coconut, or granola for topping)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper lining or spray with cooking spray. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas and add them to the flour and butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well, but be careful not to over mix.

Next, fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola and coconut into the batter.


Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, filling each one to the top. Top each muffin with coconut, granola or dried banana chips (I added banana chips into the batter, so only topped them with coconut).


Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and eat up! Guess who got to sleep while I made these?


He woke up to a yummy breakfast involving one of his favorite foods-bananas!


We took down our Christmas tree last night, so I guess the Holidays are officially over :( I have to admit though, I was pretty glad to get that dang tree out of our living room since I found myself vacuuming up needles multiple times a week.


Maybe next year someone will buy me a dishwasher for Christmas? I can dream...


7 comments:

Anonymous said... Best Blogger Tips

I feel the same way about baking in my own kitchen (dishwasher or no dishwasher)....I can't wait to get back and relax.

CarinE said... Best Blogger Tips

I love bananas too! great recipe, can't wait to try it. you banana looks really ripe...seriously reeeeaaaaally ripe.haha.kinda scaring. haha

(what runs) Lori said... Best Blogger Tips

Yum and wow. I love how these babies look! The toasted coconut on top just makes this. :)

Jun said... Best Blogger Tips

Yummy! This is my favorite, but I never tried this with toasted coconut!

Kathy said... Best Blogger Tips

I just made these yesterday and they were delicious!! I loved them :) tasted super light and just like banana bread. When I make these again, I think I might try to make it into bread!

Kathy said... Best Blogger Tips

Oh, and I reduced the sugar down to 1 cup, and the butter to 2/3 of a cup. I think I might try to take the butter down to 1/2 cup next time and see how that works too

Cait @ A Bicycle Built for Two said... Best Blogger Tips

The healthier the better! Thanks for letting me know that they turned out ok-I'll def try it next time too :)

 
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