Muffins or a Loaf. Your choice.
I had a request for a banana bread recipe, and I actually have 2 or 3, but I also have this particular muffin recipe that is probably the best banana nut anything I’ve ever had. And you can absolutely turn this into a loaf. A couple of hints before we start... Don’t overmix and don’t roll your eyes at the extra crap you have to do with the banana, mmmkay? It’s worth it. Trust me. I will give directions for muffins in the recipe, and directions for converting to a loaf in the notes below. Equipment needed: Hand mixer.
Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
4 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) Unsalted Butter (melted and cooled)
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup Pecans or Walnuts (TOASTED and chopped)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In small mixing bowl, take two of the bananas and mash with a fork, but do not break them down too much - leave visible bites in there. These bananas are for texture. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, take the two remaining bananas and break them into pieces. Using the hand mixer, puree the bananas into a liquid. It will take about a minute to break down and cream the bananas. The reason for pureeing these bananas is for moisture and rich banana flavor.
Once pureed, add in brown sugar to banana puree and mix until combined, then mix in melted butter until combined. Add eggs and vanilla extract to mixture and mix until combined.
Sift together dry ingredients (you can be lazy and whisk them really good if you want) and add to wet ingredients. Mix until combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold in mashed bananas and nuts to the batter.
Spoon batter into greased muffin tins (or use paper liners, preferably) and fill around 1/2 to 3/4 full. An easy measuring method is to use an ice cream scoop. One level scoop from a standard size ice cream scoop is about perfect. Give the tin a gentle rap on the counter to remove any air bubbles. I like to sprinkle a few nuts on top of the muffin before placing in oven as well. Makes them look lovely.
Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs). Allow muffins to cool in tins for a few minutes.
Notes
To convert these muffins to a loaf, you will need to lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Pour batter into a greased standard loaf pan and bake for about 45-60 minutes. The wide temp range is due to the moisture content, so it may take longer than 45 minutes. Start checking it at around the 40 minute mark. Do the toothpick thing. If it isn’t done at 45 minutes. check it again every few minutes.
TOAST YOUR NUTS. I can’t tell you how much of a difference it makes in the flavor. Sends it to a whole other level of yum.
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