Monkeying Around (or my first post)

So here it goes, my first official post. It's not scary at all. (Note the sarcasm.)

My littles told me this morning that they would like something a little different to take for their school snack. You know, other than the boring old cheese stick or granola bar... That and a few yummy ripe bananas led to me looking for a wheat flour banana muffin.

After much debate and about 20 minutes on Pinterest (my favorite website these days), I finally came across this recipe from 100daysofrealfood.com.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/04/30/recipe-whole-wheat-banana-nut-muffins/

I like a lot of her recipes so I thought I would give it a try. I don't usually have pure maple syrup in my pantry though so I substituted out honey instead. And then I added 3/4 tsp. cinnamon to it for a little extra flavor. Here is a pic of my ingredients.

 

 

Patience isn't my greatest virtue sometimes and I am not the biggest fan of doing dishes. Therefore I mixed mine a little differently than she did. I melted my butter in the bowl and then mixed in the bananas and eggs. By then, the butter had cooled enough I could add in the honey and not lose any of the health benefits. If you're not aware, heat kills the honey nutrients and we don't want that. I then sifted my dry ingredients in the bowl and mixed it all together. Finally I folded in my nuts, which are definitely optional.

 

My girls love tiny food so I portioned my batter out with my small ice cream scooper into mini muffin tins and then baked for about 9 minutes. The baking times will vary from the difference in ovens so be sure to check yours. I don't like stabbing my food so I can usually tell by the springiness of the top of the muffin when they're done. But if you're not really sure that will work for you and don't want underdone muffins, just test with a toothpick.

 

Presto, magico, here is the finished product:

 

Look at how creative I got with it. It was fun to play with my food. And of course, you have to do quality control. They're delicious. If you decide to make them in a regular size muffin tin, I would suggest splitting them in half and spreading some yummy peanut butter on them. Or if you're not really too concerned about the healthiness of it, add a few peanut butter chips to the batter before you bake. Delicious! I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

I hope you try these and find out for yourself how easy and delicious they are. Here is the recipe with my changes in it.

1½ cups whole-wheat flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

⅓ cup honey

 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 very ripe bananas, peeled (the riper they are the sweeter they'll be)

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray your tins or line with cupcake liners.
2. Melt butter in bowl.
3. Mix in other wet ingredients, adding honey last so the butter has time to cool.
4. Add in dry ingredients.
5. Stir in walnuts, if wanted.
6. Portion out to approximately 12 oversized muffin tins or 36 minis.
7. Bake until about to brown on top, about 20-22 min for regular and 9-12 for minis.

Let cool and enjoy.

My next baking adventure will be coming soon. Our Youth Group is having Parent/Teen Night this Sunday and I still need to figure out what to bring as my covered dish. Decisions, decisions. What am I to do when everything sounds so good.

Well, it was fun spending time with you. I hope you decide to come back and see what I have in store next time.

Many blessings to you and yours.
Pamela