gock's frocks.....individually inspired design

Rotten Bananas ......

does this happen at your house??

we go through the banana cycle .... it starts with everyone loving bananas. So much so that I buy bunch after bunch at the store only to have them gobbled up the minute they ripen or even with a tinge of green!

then the winds of change blow through - or maybe it is a secret banana boycott organized behind my back to get me to make banana bread.

Not sure ... but I do know that this is the result!



ugh!

so I decided it was time for banana bread - or rather banana muffins. A little easier to grab and go.

Of course I can never remember which recipe I used last, so I hunted through my cookbooks until I came upon Muffin Madness in the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home Cookbook and pulled out my trusty purple kitchen-aid!



This is a great recipe because it gives you directions for a tasty muffin base that you can flavor in different ways.

-- Basic Wet Ingredients --
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

-- Basic Dry Ingredients --
2 cup unbleached flour (I use whole wheat)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Choose one of the following combos to add to basic ingredients (the above is NOT a plain muffin recipe, but the base for the following)

Apple muffins: Add 2 cups of grated apple and 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel to wet ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to dry ingredients.

Banana muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana to wet ingredients and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to batter. (this can be adjusted to personal preference - we like fewer nuts and use mini-chips)

Blueberry - lemon muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of blueberries and 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel to wet ingredients.

Zucchini muffins: Add 2 cups of grated zucchini to wet ingredients and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Fold in 1/2 cup of raisins or currants and 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine wet ingredients, combine dry ingredients. Add two mixtures together and take care not to overmix. Spoon batter into oiled standard muffins tins and bake for 20-25 minutes standard size muffins or 10-15 minutes for mini muffins

the result was so yummy I made 3 batches in 2 days... and yep, I used up all of those black bananas !