Banana Muffin Yumminess

If you are anything like me, sometimes you buy a whole bunch of bananas with the intention of actually eating them.  And then a few weeks later, you realize that your bananas have turned from yellow and bright to almost black…oops.

But, then you get excited because over ripe bananas means banana bread!

My mom made banana bread pretty often when we were growing up, so I gave her a call to get the recipe from her…which of course she knows by heart!  Have I mentioned my mom is awesome?  Ya, she is.

I modified my recipe slightly to make it a little lower in calories.  Here’s the ingredients I used.

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 over ripe bananas

**Note, my mom just uses 1 cup of sugar instead of the Splenda/sugar combination and she omits the vanilla extract.  She also usually adds chopped walnuts to hers.

First things, first, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Next, put the stick of softened butter, eggs, Splenda, and sugar into a stand up mixer.  Cream these ingredients.

Next, peel the bananas and toss them in and mix until combined.  If you are going to add the vanilla, now is a good time as well.  (You can tell that my butter wasn’t exactly softened enough since it’s kinda lumpy…remember to allow enough time for your butter to soften on the counter. ;))

Now, add the two cups flour and the baking soda.

Mix on medium high speed for about 2 minutes or until mixture is no longer lumpy.  The batter should be pretty thick in consistency.

If you are adding walnuts, fold them into the batter using a spatula.

There are several ways you can cook your batter.  The most traditional way is probably using a loaf pan.  If you choose this option, it will take about an hour and you’ll want to turn the heat down to about 325 degrees.  The loaf is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

My mom always used a large muffin tin to bake her bread and that takes about 30 minutes to bake.  I’d spray the muffin pan (and also the loaf pan from above) with some non-stick cooking spray or use parchment paper.

I wanted to make smaller portions, so I went with a cupcake pan and used some cute wrappers I had around.

Since the batter is so thick, I scooped it out with a measuring cup and used a spatula to guide it in to each cup.  I filled them about 3/4 of the way full.  As an added touch, I sprinkled the top of each one with sugar (that’s how my mom always does it).

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.  I like to take them out before they turn brown so they don’t dry out.  Some might consider them slightly under baked.  This recipe made exactly 14 cupcakes for me.  Remember that if you are not filling all the cupcake tins be sure to add a little water to each empty one so the heat distributes evenly.  Hopefully your oven has more than one rack so you don’t have to bake them in two batches like I did!  (Ya, making Easter dinner was fun with only one rack in the oven!  And by “fun,” I mean it took a lot of pre-planning!)

These make the perfect to-go breakfast and aren’t too bad as dessert either!

And how adorable are these pink foil wrappers?  I LOVE them.

Here’s a close up of the sugary yumminess on the top.

This recipe is pretty quick to make and provides you and your honey a week of breakfast (they freeze well, too!), or two days of muffins if your fiance finds them delicious.  😉

Anyone else forget to eat bananas?  I found some super old zucchini in the bottom of my fridge the other day…too bad moldy zucchini doesn’t make yummy zucchini bread!  I really gotta get better at that…