Paula Deen's Banana Nut Muffins

It's been pretty chilly here in the DC area the last few days, as I've mentioned. It should warm up in the next few days and get closer to where the temperature should be, but in the meantime, I want something warm that requires the oven to be on hot and warm up the kitchen, rather than crank up the heat in the middle of September.

 I've been at home by myself for almost two weeks, with a brief visit from my dad, and in that time, I haven't really been home very much. As such, I'm not usually around to "snack" during the day, and much of the fruit that we have hasn't been eaten. I hate to waste food, so the extra ripe bananas that are sitting on the counter will now be turned into Paula Deen's delicious banana nut muffins, from her magazine.

These are seriously some of the best muffins I've ever had, and shockingly, they don't contain ANY butter. Right?! Incidentally, these muffins were featured in a fall/winter edition of Paula's magazine, as a warm reminder of tropical flavors (also included: pineapple/ham omelette and a smoothie). So, to begin...

 We start with ripe (brown/very dark spotted) bananas:

Then, you preheat the oven to 400° (kind of the whole point of baking today) and gather your ingredients. For this recipe, we'll need:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• Garnish: confectioners' sugar, fresh raspberries

I substitute Splenda Blend for the sugar (follow the instructions on the package for the conversion rate, which, in this case is 1/2 cup of Splenda for 1 cup of sugar). You can also substitute the more traditional walnuts for these muffins, but I like pecans in them. I don't put on the powdered sugar, either, but that's because I'm not much for presentation.

I also go VERY heavy on the cinnamon, because I find that the original recipe doesn't have enough of it to even taste in the finished product. I generally put in somewhere closer to 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, so four times as much as the recipe calls for. I also add more banana if I have it. I've found that about three bananas is a cup, and in this case I have four.

Dry ingredients unblended.

Next, combine your dry ingredients (but not the nuts) into a smallish-medium bowl (if you've baked before, you know how big the bowl should be for two cups of flour). When you mix in the cinnamon, the whole kitchen starts to smell like fall and/or Christmas. It's great.

Dry ingredients blended.

See why I go overboard on the cinnamon? Once blended together, you can barely see it and this is with four times the cinnamon. If you're not a cinnamon fan, just add the amount called-for until you've made them once and then play it by ear.




One note: Never measure salt over your bowl. If it overflows the measuring spoon, you could end up with very salty muffins. On the other hand, I always measure vanilla over the bowl, and let it overflow a little bit. It's a tip from Debbi "Mrs." Fields herself. But there's no vanilla in this recipe, so that's a moot point this time.

(Sidebar: I have the last night's Nationals game on TV right now, and there's a commercial for Nissan about how they have so many more vehicles available than Honda or Toyota. It's the second commercial I've seen played on this theme, and I have to say that I find them completely tasteless. Because why are Toyota and Honda having inventory issues? Because their plants were washed away in a horrific earthquake/tsunami. Nissan is counting on you not to understand that they're trying to make money by exploiting a tragedy. It really pisses me off. Unfortunately I can't seem to find the commercial online anywhere to share. Ok, sidebar over, back to muffins.)

Next, put your dry ingredients to the side and combine your wet ingredients into a large bowl.

Now to mix them together. I know that the recipe calls for you to add wet to dry, but I generally add dry to wet. If you want to follow the recipe, just reverse the size of the bowls. I've done it both ways and it doesn't seem to make a difference in how the muffins look or taste.

Once you have your delicious muffin mix batter, it's time to add the nuts. I happen to have pecan pieces left over from... something (likely last year's pecan pie at Thanksgiving), so I'll use those, but you can chop your own just as easily with a large knife and a cutting board. Also, I will be using a cup of nuts, but that's a lot of nuts. If you're not a nut fan, you might want to start with 1/4 cup and work your way up as you make this recipe.

Go ahead and grease your muffin tray. Mine is for a dozen muffins, not 15, like the recipe calls for, so I just make big muffins. I always grease with Pam, never with butter, because it saves you calories. Don't forget to grease the tops of the tin and not just the cups. You don't want your muffins to stick if the end up baking up over the edge of the tins.

I generally use an ice cream scoop to fill my muffin tins (an Ina Garten tip) because it makes consistently sized muffins.







Once you're done, put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes. For my larger muffins, I did 14 minutes and they were perfect.

 
Use the baking time to finish cleaning up the kitchen. When they appear to be cooked on the top, they're done. (Be aware that with all the banana in them, they may appear to be not done, but that might just be a chunk of banana you're looking at. Make sure you look at all the muffins when judging doneness.)

Once you have your delicious muffins you can keep them for several days. I recommend popping them in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds on high to give them that fresh-from-the-oven heat when you have them later on. 

Now you can cozy up with your banana nut muffins in your warm kitchen (the whole point if you recall) and enjoy!