By At any given point in time, my kitchen is pretty much just a fruit hospice. I am notorious for buying fruit and either eating it right away or, more often, watching it slowly wither and die until it’s more block blob than whatever it was a week prior.
Moral of the story- I’m bad at fruit.
Anyway.
I had some bananas that were very quickly reaching that fate and I decided to take action. As I have had a MISERABLE day, I decided some light baking was in order and I took to making my favorite dying banana treat.
BANANA BRAN MUFFINS!
They are definitely a favorite and I love having them around. As a result, I’m excited to share this recipe. I have no idea where I originally got it from so here it is with my own variations.
Here we go!
Ingredients:
(Josh Note: Make sure you have EVERYTHING before you start. I made the mistake of assuming I had vanilla in my cupboard and it resulted in a mad dash to the store in the middle of preparing everything. I was quite annoyed with myself)
2 Large Eggs
2/3 Cup packed light brown sugar
3 Mashed ripe bananas (the original calls for 1 cup or 2 bananas but I say go big!)
1 Cup buttermilk*
1 Cup unprocessed wheat bran*
1/4 Cup canola oil
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 Cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons baking powder
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips
*Some notes on these ingredients:
Buttermilk, for some ungodly reason only comes in quart size containers which is more buttermilk than normal people need. You can easily make your own by mixing 1 tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice into 1 cup of milk. Let it sit for a bit to think about what it’s done/turn into “sour milk” which works just as well.
Wheat Bran is NOT cereal so don’t try to throw bran flakes in and hope for the best. This stuff can be a bit of a massive pain to find and is usually in the last spot you would expect. It took me two grocery stores to find it. It ended up being in a section labeled Gluten Free. Strangely it wasn’t with the other Red Mill products but up with the Chia because… it makes total sense. Don’t question it. STOP QUESTIONING IT!
Anyway. Here’s what to do next.
- Gather your baking tools. This sounds stupid but I think all recipes should call for this step. I never do this and I end up angrily tearing apart my kitchen trying to find something… usually the teaspoons…
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grab your muffin tray and spray it down with cooking spray. (I tend not to use muffin wrappers or whatever they’re called but if you do you can skip the spray down)
- Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl until smooth. Whisk in your smashed up bananas (I smash by hand because it’s very relaxing…), buttermilk, wheat bran, oil and vanilla.
- In a separate, large, bowl whisk together your whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour,
baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. - Make a crater in your dry ingredients and pour the wet in. Stir like a mad man. Or pretend you’re a witch brewing a potion. Whatever works for you.
- Go ahead and chuck those chocolate chips in there. Steal some for yourself. No one will judge you. Except the cats. They’re judging but a quick sip of wine will ease the pain.
- Did I mention you should have a glass of wine while doing this? No.
- Get wine.
- Scoop batter into your muffin tins. Fill those bad boys to the brim.
- Toss them in the oven. Gently. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a bit springy when you touch them. Let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes or so until you can take them out and let cool some more.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
I plopped the recipe into My Fitness Pal and here’s the nutritional information based on 1 Serving (1 Muffin). I’m not 100% certain where this would fix on a plan like the 21 Day Fix but I’d imagine it’s 2 yellows? Anyone who can offer insight please do!
Avoiding Neverland 