Creation Sunday - Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Today Hillary wanted to continue talking about the things she made around Christmas time and share one of her favorite recipes.

As, I'm sure, you're well aware, I love my banana crunch muffins and think they are about the most perfect food on earth.  However, my husband would beg to differ.  I think that true muffins should taste hearty and flavorful but not too sweet.  He thinks that muffin=cake that you eat for breakfast.  One day when I was searching for ways to use up bananas turning brown on my counter (other than making muffins that only one person in the house would eat), I came across Noble Pig's Recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip muffins.  I tried them and they are amazing.  They are every bit as decadent and addictive as she says, and my husband loves them.

Normally, the only modification I make is that I add a tablespoon of honey into the batter (it adds a little flavor and helps keep the muffins moist over time).  If I am feeling adventurous (or not feeling like searching for the brown sugar), I might use turbinado instead of brown sugar.  But, up until Christmas, those were the only modifications I had ever tried.  The recipe is truly amazing as is.

In my family, we eat on Christmas Eve and then eat a big, fancy breakfast on Christmas day. I am usually in charge of muffins.  I usually do at least 2 different types of muffins so that everyone at the table has something that meets their tastes.  This year, I did clementine/orange muffins for those of us who like something different and Noble Pig's Muffins for those at the table who like cake for breakfast.  I was just going to make what I normally do until I realized that I had some extra special things in my pantry that I could add in. 

The muffin recipe itself remained as above.  Instead of just the chocolate chips, I added in about 1/3rd bag of each of the following: peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and reese's mini's.  These were the ultimate decadent breakfast food and they received many accolades from hubby and all of my family. I will definitely make them this way again.  One little thing I learned when making these this Christmas is don't turn them into banana bread... the outside will be overcooked before the middle is done.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe.  Stay tuned for more awesome interviews and updates!

Creation Sunday - "Fruit Puree" Muffins Pt. 1 - Banana

Today, for "Creation Sunday", Hillary is starting a 2 (or maybe 3) part series on variations on a muffin recipe.

I love baking and I love eating.  One of my favorite things for both is muffins.  They are mega tasty, easy to make and can be as nutritious or junky as you want.  Today, I want to share my favorite Banana Muffin Recipe, and over the next few weeks, we'll explore some variants on it.  First, if you're not familiar with Alton Brown's Book "I'm Just here for more food: Food X Mixing + Heat = Baking", I would strongly suggest getting your hands on it and reading the "Muffin Method" section.  It explains very clearly why you use certain ingredients, what they do and why mixing them a certain way is very important.  In fact, this book is an excellent reference and recipe book for all kinds of baking and I would highly recommend it.

So, for our banana muffins, we'll start with the base Recipe, "Banana Crunch Muffins", which can be found here on the Post website. I make a few modifications, following similar rules to what I discussed in my cookie post. 

Here are the changes I make:
-I use whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular flour to make it heartier, healthier, and, IMHO, more flavorful.
-I add a pinch or two of nutmeg in with the dry ingredients for a little more flavor.
-I add approx 1 tbl of molasses (or honey) in with the wet ingredients because it adds a little more flavor and because molasses and honey are more hygroscopic than sugar which means they help the muffins stay moist better than sugar.
-For the yogurt, it varies what I use:  I usually use plain nonfat yogurt, but I have used lowfat yogurt, vanilla yogurt, low fat sour cream and a host of other things as well.

-I substitute Cranberry Almond Crunch for the cereal because it gives it more varied texture and flavor than using grape nuts does.
-The final touch that I add to these muffins that I think adds that perfect little extra "pop" is sprinkling the tops with cinnamon and sugar. 

Actually, I owe the discovery of the last change to my current career as a nanny.  One day, I went to work and there were overripe bananas in the house so I asked the little girl I watch if she wanted to make muffins.  As I was searching around for spices to add in, I found the cinnamon sugar and thought it might be fun for her to sprinkle that on the tops of the muffins.   I knew it would be tasty, but I found that it took my favorite banana muffin recipe from the mountain top to pure heaven.

One note about these: Since this recipe is fairly low in fat, it cannot be made into banana bread as the middle will not cook all the way (trust me).  I have made larger single muffins in ramekins with success, but I have never tried a whole batch of large muffins in a large muffin tin, so I am not sure if that would work.

That's all for that recipe, but tune in over the next few weeks for some awesome variations on that recipe (here's a hint: they're not banana, but they're just as awesome!)...