Not Your Mom’s Banana Muffins

When we were really lucky, hadn’t recently sent my mom screaming toward the nearest psych ward with our incessant sibling wars, my little brother and I would periodically wake up to my mom’s homemade banana muffins before school. This was a serious treat folks. Not that pop tarts, toaster strudels, or those freaky Ovaltine breakfast ‘shakes’ we usually had weren’t the bees knees, but homemade banana muffins piping hot from the oven are serious drool worthy eats.

Now bananas and I have a rather contentious relationship. I actually quite adore the lovely yellow fruit. Sprinkled over any cereal, pancakes, with peanut butter and honey…any way you slice it, I am a fan. But I can’t help but feel the banana doesn’t quite love me back, or at least has a mean streak. I buy them in these big gorgeous bunches, hang them on high in my nifty wire hanging fruit baskets and then before I’ve made too big of a dent, the darn things are brown and spotty already. I am NOT one of those over-ripe banana lovers. In fact, there is a small window of time that the banana is in my favor when it’s not really green anymore with a good yellow hue and no sign of brown. I just can’t seem to eat them fast enough. I know, I know...there is always the 'don't buy so many option' or the 'put them in the frige once they are ripe to your liking' way of doing it, but I just can't seem to get my act together on this one. Enter the banana muffin.

Those deep dark brown dead bananas are perfect for muffins and breads. Their sugars are ripe for baking! So I took my mom’s recipe and played with it, coming up with what I think is quite a superb specimen of banana muffin glory. Not that mom's aren't fantastic, but I think mine do quite well with the hungry folks in my house.

Not Your Mom’s Banana Muffins
(A Girl and Her Kitchen)

½ cup butter (unsalted and room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
¼ cup whole milk
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour (can sub all purpose flour)
1 tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup toasted coconut flakes (optional)
Brown sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 375º

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In a second bowl, mash together bananas, milk and vanilla.

In a third bowl, cream butter and sugar using medium speed of an electric mixer (or use your super duper KitchenAid mixer). Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Add half the flour mixture and mix to combine. Add the banana, milk, vanilla mixture. Mix well. Add in the rest of the flour mixture and mix well.

Using a wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips and toasted coconut.

Spoon the batter into cupcake tins filling them 4/5 full (I use an ice cream scoop). Sprinkle each with a bit of brown sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes (if making mini muffins, bake for 15 minutes). They are cooked through when a small knife or toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (save for some melted chocolate :). Enjoy!