Comfort Banana Bread Muffins

Bananas get scarfed up in this house like you wouldn’t believe. We usually buy two bunches a week and I’m the main culprit.

I can’t help it. I’ve been eating bananas in my Cheerios for, like, 27 years. By now, it’s a morning habit that’s hard to change. If I did it would probably led to a potassium deficiency leaving me with no dexterity and unable to type. Who would occasionally write this blog then?

The lack of central air in our house leaves the kitchen a few degrees warmer and thus our bananas are turning quicker. From lime green to traffic-light yellow and spotty in just a few days. Luckily you don’t have to throw them out because they’re perfect for banana bread.

Straight out of the oven and butter-melting warm.

Banana bread is my favorite kind of bread. What’s great about these fruity muffins is the amount of moisture they soak up. They only get better with time.

I draw from a recipe at Simply Recipes, but I have tweaked this one to make it my own. Mine calls for extra vanilla, half whole wheat flour and four bananas exactly. Oh, and I put them in a muffin pan.

Here’s what you need:

4 spotted, ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 beaten egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
Dash of salt
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup regular flour

Put the peeled bananas in a mixing bowl and smashed them with a potato masher. Mix in the butter with a spoon (I use a bamboo mixing spoon). Then add the sugar, egg and vanilla. Add baking soda and salt. Then mix in both flours.

By now your batter should be thick and pasty. It’s going to take a little elbow grease to really mix this up. Speaking of grease, grab the Crisco and wipe a little bit into the muffin pans. If you have a non-stick pan you can forgo this, but it really helps to eject the muffins sans disaster.

Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, leaving about a quarter-inch from the top of the pan. Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.