Banana Oat Muffins

I'm not assigning a number to this post because, well, they're not technically cupcakes (an issue that will be explored in a future post, after I'm done collecting data!) but they're still delicious either way. Seriously, The Gamer and I turned into complete muffin-pigs as soon as these came out of the oven. This is not good.

Yes, those are snowmen on the wrappers. I thought I had more pastel wrappers, but apparently I don't. I didn't want to use the fancy metallic-y red ones for muffins, those are for practice-wedding cupcakes only. I never got around to making the christmas cupcakes I was planning, so I had a whole package of snowmen. This is not a secret desire for winter to stay longer, in fact, I just about cried when it started snowing again. But anyway, that's not the point. I just like fun wrappers. And snowmen.

Anywho, I had some bananas in my kitchen that were getting to that "you need to make banana bread" stage. You all know what I mean, where they're not quite rotten so you don't want to throw them out, but you don't particularly want to eat them either? Yeah. I love banana bread, but we usually get really excited about it for a day or two and eat about 3/4 of the loaf, then it gets wrapped in foil and put in the fridge. I'll rediscover it a few months later and go "ew" and throw it away. Which makes me sad because banana bread should never be thrown away, it is too awesome. I thought that maybe banana muffins would work better. They're quicker and easier than banana bread since there's no slicing involved, and they come with their own cup, so not as much mess.

I looked around for recipes, and didn't find any that I was particularly enamored with. So I turned to my mom's banana bread recipe, which is amazing, and figured "heck, if a cake can be turned into a cupcake, why not a bread into a muffin?" Oh how right I was. This is the happiest baking experiment ever.

Banana Oat Muffins

I used oats instead of the nuts that the recipe calls for. I usually leave out the nuts because I don't like them, but I thought I'd add the oats to make it seem healthier and more breakfast-y. I also have decided I really like the texture of oats, but am sad that they are usually paired with raisins, which I am highly opposed to. Also, the only reason I used whole wheat flour in this is because I realized after I mashed the bananas that I was almost out of All Purpose flour. You could easily do it with all white, or use more wheat if you want to go more that direction.

• 3 Ripe Bananas - Mashed
• 1/2 C oil
• 1 C sugar
• 1 1/2 C All purpose Flour
• 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 C quick oats
• pinch of salt

Peel your bananas and toss them in a medium-large mixing bowl. Smash them with a fork or pastry masher or whatever you have hand that is good at mashing things. Add the oil and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients one at a time, mixing as you go. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (or just spray it with non-stick spray if you'd prefer to forgo the liners. As I've said before, I just like them) and fill each hole about 3/4 full. Bake at 350* for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Makes about 18 muffins.

These were, to put it quite simply, amazing. So incredibly moist, very sweet, just dense enough but not so dense that you feel like you can't have another (I did. And another two after that!). I don't know what they'll taste like when they're cold, as I have managed to gorge myself on them hot out of the oven. It should be noted that my oven tends to run on the cooler side most of the time, so if you have an oven that runs hot, you might want to check these at 17 or 18 minutes. 20 was perfect in my oven though.

On another note, I remember reading somewhere once upon a time (I don't remember where or how long ago this was) that if you don't have enough to fill the entire muffin pan, you should fill the extra cups with water to help ensure even baking. So I tried that today. The muffins came out just fine, but they did cook a little longer (22 minutes) than the first, full batch. Which I found curious. I'm not sure whether to believe this or not yet, and I may have experiment. I do know that it made dumping them a lot harder, since I couldn't just flip the tray over on my counter and dump them out. The liners still made them easy to remove though, so that was good.

Only slightly unrelated, I picked up the newest Better Homes and Gardens magazine after work yesterday, it's all cupcakes! There are some in there that I really want to try, so look forward to reviews of those over the next few months. There are a few lemon recipes that can vie for a spot in the wedding, and even another root beer float cupcake with icing that uses actual ice cream. This might call for a re-test. We'll have to see how motivated I am. And how soon I can get my hands on some more flour. I've got to be more careful about keeping stocked in the future!