Healthful Breakfast Treat

To continue with my 'i love bananas and nuts' theme, here is a recipe from O Magazine a couple of months ago. The recipe accompanied an essay by a woman who wondered if it was ok to admit that she was a feminist who loved baking. The article irked me -- of course you can be a feminist who also likes to bake! -- so I almost didn't clip the recipe even though it looked like it might be a recipe ripe for modifying, adding, and changing.

But then one morning there was very little in the house and I was in need of a nice muffin to munch on and voila -- these little things baked up just beautifully. I am posting the recipe now because although the original recipe was a bit fall-ish (calling for orange zest and cinnamon and nutmeg), it also calls for applesauce. And just the other day I purchased a fat jar of apple-blackberry sauce that would make these muffins perfect for serving on a late-August-is-it-fall-yet-day.

Can't wait.

Spiced Banana Walnut Muffins
1 cup whole wheat or all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I think all these spices can be played with, depending on your other add-ins)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup stick softened butter (or vegetable oil)
1 cup (2 to 3 whole) very ripe mashed bananas
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (or pecans would be good too!)
1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners or grease well and set aside.
2. Put flour, baking soda, spices, and salt into a large bowl and set aside. Put sugar and butter or oil into a second large bowl and beat until well combined (I did this by hand, or you can use a mixer.) Add bananas, applesauce, zest (if using), and egg to the sugar butter mix and beat again until combined. Add flour mix to banana mix in three parts, stirring well after each addition. Fold in walnuts.
3. Spoon batter into prepared tin, bake until a tooth pick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp.
Makes 6 -- I wanted the perception of more muffins so I made them in my mini muffin pans and got at least a dozen +. So cute and good -- and healthy-ish too.

In truth, blueberry muffins are probably my favorite, but I love the fact that if you have browned bananas you can make muffins or bread with them -- such a great way of extending a food that is a bit past its prime.