Banana Nut Muffins

banananutmuffinYou’d think a girl like me who bakes all the time would have made banana nut muffins before. Not until this week, my friends. I guess I always make banana bread with our sketchy-looking bananas, but Mike requested banana nut muffins this time. In they went to his office, providing his coworkers with a classic breakfast treat.

I found this recipe at Celebrating Sweets and adapted it just a bit, using pecans and adding nutmeg. You could also use walnuts or chocolate chips as an alternative if you like, or a combination of the two. The interesting thing about this recipe is that it uses melted butter, rather than oil, giving a richer flavor.

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 8 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 2 cups mashed banana (about 4 medium bananas)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans

For topping:

  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • Dash of nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners; my batch yielded 20 muffins.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together melted butter and brown sugar, then add mashed bananas, vanilla, and eggs. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to slightly combine, then mix in pecans, stirring just until no dry streaks remain.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, scoop batter into muffin tins. Sprinkle with topping.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven, remove muffins from tins, and cool on a wire rack (or serve warm). Once muffins are cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Makes about 20 muffins.

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Nutella-Swirled Banana Muffins

nutella swirl muffinsMmm, Nutella. This delicious hazelnut spread isn’t something I eat very often, but I’ve become very interested in baking with it recently and have pinned many a Nutella-based recipe on my Pinterest baking board. Pinterest is quite a playground for food bloggers, and I found this recipe there from fellow blogger Maya at Alaska from Scratch; I just tweaked very slightly (including a bit more vanilla and Nutella) in the recipe below.

Banana muffins are a great base for many additions, including nuts or chocolate chips (or both). This Nutella-swirled version looks amazing when finished, and I imagine that serving them with Nutella for spreading would be a great idea. I also think this could make a wonderful quick bread and would like to experiment with baking it on loaf form sometime in the future, perhaps with some nuts mixed into the batter.

Since I’m still fasting from sugar (and baked goods in particular) for Lent, it’s quite a challenge for me to not crack open one of these, slather it with some Nutella, and chow down. I will refrain for a few more weeks though, and will have to rely on Mike’s assessment of these muffins to learn whether they’re tasty or not. Sometime tells me they’ll be delicious!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • heaping 1/2 cup Nutella

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin tins with paper liners; my batch yielded 20 muffins.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In another large bowl, combine mashed bananas, sugar, brown sugar, vegetable oil, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract. Stir together to combine, then add all at once to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Batter will be lumpy.

In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave Nutella in 15-second intervals until thinned and easy to stir. Using a tablespoon from your flatware, drop dollops of Nutella onto the top of each muffin and swirl with a toothpick to spread; I used about 1 tablespoon on each.

Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely on wire racks.