30 March 2009

Banana Crunch Muffins


I have been on a muffin kick lately - we are usually cereal or toast eaters for breakfast, but lately I've just wanted a nice bakery good instead. And muffins are much healthier than fried and iced donuts ;)

Now, these aren't the healthiest muffins but my GOSH -they are good! The chunks of bananas in the muffin help to keep it moist and ensure you really get that banana flavor. The granola, nuts, and coconut help to give a great texture as well. And that crunchy topping is genius. I just made sure that I bought extra coconut/almonds/granola to make the recipe, and mixed them all together to top the muffins. Worked perfectly.




Um, this recipe makes a TON of muffins too, by the way. I halved it and still got 15 muffins out of it (!). Enough for lunches and snacks for the Hubster. And believe me, these still didn't stick around for long.


Banana Crunch Muffins
(from Ina Garten)








Ingredients:
3 c. all-purpose flour
2 c.sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp.baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 c. whole milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 c. medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
1 c. small-diced almonds
1 c. granola
1 c. sweetened shredded coconut
Additional granola, almonds, or shredded coconut for topping

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don't overmix.

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.

3 comments:

Elyse said...

Mmm, these muffins sound fabulous. I love the added crunch. Crunch goes so well with a nice moist muffin. How delicious!

Christy said...

Oh my, these look delicious! I'm always a fan of the tops of muffins, especially with a crunch. Mmmm!

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