Banana Maple Nut Muffins
While the warm temperatures are still here for a bit, the cozy feelings of slowly settling back into rhythms has begun. One rhythm that I keep year round is making a double batch of muffins every Monday to sustain us through the week. I’m always looking for way to use up overripe bananas (we have a very short window for banana ripeness tolerance in our house :) and muffins are always useful to have around. Playing with early fall flavors, I grabbed some maple syrup and pecans to combine with the cinnamon and nutmeg. The smell alone makes them worth it, but the fact that we get to enjoy eating them makes them a no-brainer.
Ingredients:
Makes about 12 muffins
3 ripe bananas
1 egg
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated if you have it!)
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ cups flour
½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners (my favorite!) or butter them so the muffins don’t stick. In a large bowl, mash the bananas until very soft and liquid. Add the egg, melted butter, and maple syrup and whisk together until smooth. Add the vanilla, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix again. Sift the flour, baking soda, and powder into the bowl and gently fold it together. Add the chopped pecans and fold through. Scoop about 3 tablespoons of batter into the muffin cups, they should be about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!
