Banana Muffins

There are always bananas in our house, purchased with thoughts of healthy breakfast snacks or smoothies however frequently they go uneaten during the week and progress from beautiful eatable yellow gradually into a state of unappetizing brown.

I know when bananas go all brown they look like they should be fast tracked to the compost or rubbish bin but their aroma and taste intensifies to give cakes, muffins and breads the best banana flavour. In the Lounge brown bananas have undergone a magical transformation from eating bananas living happily in the fruit basket to being relocated onto the kitchen bench as a reminder they are now the very best prime cooking bananas.

My mother used to make all kinds of muffins and put them into my lunch for school and it was always a surprise to see them in my lunchbox at school. Muffins are like an individual cake baked to be eaten by just one person. Muffins are not a slice of a bigger cake baked to be divided up into portions, it is a cake that has been baked for me and me alone.

I do love a Banana Muffin, there is something almost healthy about eating a banana muffin, surely they are a perfect fruit substitute?

Bowl 1
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Bowl 2
3 very ripe (browning or brown) bananas mashed
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.
2. Line muffin baking tin with baking cups, or lightly grease.
3. In a bowl, mix together the ingredients for bowl 1.
4. In another larger bowl, mix together the ingredients for bowl 2.
5. Fold the mixture from bowl 1 into bowl 2.
6. Scoop muffin batter evenly into muffin cups
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (When muffins are done they will be a light golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin will come out clean.)
8. Place the muffins on a cooling rack.