I’ve probably been making these muffins for about five years now. A friend of mine made them for my original freezer exchange group and they were an immediate hit with my family. I like that they are a nice alternative to banana bread when I have overripe bananas to use up (I love to buy them on “clearance” when they are a deal too!)
The original recipe calls for nuts in the batter but my family does not like nuts in baked goods (except for me!) so I left them out. I love to make up a batch of these and since they make plenty, they are great for stashing extras in the freezer. Just warm up and serve on busy weekday mornings with some yogurt or bacon and fresh fruit on the side. So easy!
So this week’s Make Ahead Monday is banana muffins—serving two purposes of using up bananas and reducing waste (and bonus if they are bought on sale!) and having some made up ahead of time for busy days. My kids even like to have them for snacks—yum!
I hope you like them too!
EASY BANANA MUFFINS
½ (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 large ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilkPreheat oven to 400º F. Grease 12 standard size muffin pan cups or use paper liners.
Beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in bananas until smooth.
Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
Alternately stir flour mixture and buttermilk into egg mixture until dry ingredients are just moistened.
Stir in nuts and vanilla. Do not overmix batter; it should into be completely smooth.
Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling two-thirds full. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer muffin-pan cups to a wire rack to cool slightly. Turn out onto rack. Serve warm.
Yield 12 muffins (I usually get at least 18 though).
Just a few simple ingredients are all you need to whip these up in a jiffy!
Creaming all the "wet" ingredients together--minus the buttermilk.
Use an ice cream scoop to put the batter evenly in the muffin cups.
I bake both trays side-by-side in my oven for even baking. But my new oven is wider than the last one. You can just layer the trays on racks if yours is smaller.
yum!