Banana-Nut Muffins

Weekend breakfast at the Frog & PenguINN is a favorite cause we usually enjoy Grenville’s specialty pancakes or omelets – but not this past weekend.

We had some overripe bananas and  lots of shelled pecans from last fall’s harvest in the freezer. This recipe was adapted from a recent addition to our
cookbook collection – my “prize” at a book swap this past spring. One never have TOO many cookbooks – right?
This recipe was one of the best we’ve tried for fresh muffins.

Banana-Nut Muffins
This recipe uses a basic muffin recipe – see recipe changes below.

• 1 tbsp canola oil or melted butter
• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C sugar or honey or maple syrup
• 3 tbsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
• 1 C milk (more if needed)  - see below*

* Recipe changes for banana-nut muffins . . .

• Add 1 C mashed banana for 3/4 C of the milk.
• Add 1/2 C roughly chopped walnuts, pecans or cashews to dry ingredients.

Preheat over to 400°; grease (2) 6-cup muffin tins or (1) 12-cup tin.

1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. Beat together egg, milk and oil (or butter). Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in.
3. Use a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula to quickly mix ingredients, stopping when dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth and thin. Add more milk if needed.
4. Spoon batter into muffin tins, filling about two-thirds full. If you want larger muffins fill the cup almost to the top, then add 1/4 C water into any empty cups.
5. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top (optional).
6. Bake 20-30 minutes until muffins are browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing from tin.

Serve with butter, jam or Grenville’s favorite, cream cheese. We also enjoyed a glass of cold milk and bowl of fresh fruit.

And, while tempted, we didn’t eat all the muffins this weekend. Some went into the freezer for another a.m. treat.