Today I got home from running errands and found four overly ripe bananas in my fruit bowl. I had intended on slicing them and freezing them for smoothies...but these were even too far gone for that.
YUCK! They were completely mushy and pretty gross, but it still pained me to toss them in the trash. Then I thought of Banana Bread, then decided on muffins. The Bigger Little Mouth was the Reserve Grand Champion Muffin Maker at our county fair this year, so I figured, if she could do it, then so could I.
Here's the recipe I cobbled together from her 4-H materials with a few of my own touches.
Big Mama's Bestest Banana Muffins
3-4 smashed bananas
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon or orange zest (optional, I used orange)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
Smash bananas with a fork, add egg, sugar, melted butter and salt. Mix with the fork until combined. Now here, a good baker would tell you to sift together the rest of the dry ingredients, then add in three parts, folding it in gently to combine. And that's a good practice, for sure, but I just dumped everything else in the bowl and stirred it up. But DO be careful not to over mix. Stop while the batter still looks "lumpy". If you don't your muffins will have big tunnels in them and will come to a point, like Mount Vesuvius.
Either grease the muffin tin, or add paper or silicone liners. We're a liner kind of family. The Little Mouths don't like the "Skin" they call it if you don't use them. Thanks to the goddess of all things "Perfect", the Barefoot Contessa, I use a ice cream scoop to divide the batter into the muffin cups.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until done, but not over done. Serve warm for maximum effect. Big thumbs up from Little Mouths, Big Mama and even Grandpa!
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