Okay, when I say a "lot" of bananas, I mean a whole bunch--five or six of those mushy, over-ripe, squishy things on your counter that no one will eat and that you can't throw away! Those squishy bananas will form the base of some incredibly good, nutritious (well, sort of healthy) muffins that will be a treat for breakfast and that will go extremely well with your coffee, tea, or a glass of milk. You can mix up the muffin batter in a bowl with a spoon or use the food processor to prepare the batter. The muffins are dense and moist from the quantity of bananas in the batter, and they don't need much oil (or butter). The muffins are studded with raisins from the raisin bran. A little rum extract provides extra flavor in the batter and in a drizzle topping. Yes, you can skip the drizzle, but it helps keep the muffins moist longer (like all week), and it intensifies the rum flavor. Want to use real rum? You can, but the muffins will be boozier and have a less intense rum flavor. These muffins really are a great way to use up those bananas you forgot about and that are too good to toss! Enjoy!
Banana Rum Raisin Bran Muffins -- Makes 18
5-6 extremely ripe (mushy) bananas (medium to medium large)
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
1/3 cup of canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon of rum extract
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 cup of raisin bran (crushed a bit)
2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Turbinado/raw sugar for sprinkling (2-3 tablespoons or so)
Drizzle
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons of water
1/2 teaspoon of rum extract
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spritz 18 muffin wells with non-stick cooking spray or line your muffin tins with cupcake liners and spritz the bottoms of the liners with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine the bananas, brown sugar, oil, eggs, and rum extract and beat them together (using a big spoon is fine) until they are well mixed. Stir in the flour, raisin bran, baking powder, and salt. You can also process the bananas sugar, oil, eggs, and extract in a food processor for a minute or so, then pulse in the flour, raisin bran, baking powder, and salt until mixed, if you'd prefer. The food processor method is fast, but it will grind up the raisins, so be forewarned. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and sprinkle a little of the turbinado sugar on the unbaked muffins. Bake the muffins for 20-24 minutes and remove them from the oven to drizzle/cool. Let the muffins cool in their pans for five minutes or so then tip them out and turn them right side up. The muffins will deflate a little as they sit, but don't worry about it. For the drizzle, combine the butter, brown sugar, and water in a microwave-safe cup and microwave them for 30 seconds. Stir the mixture, microwave it another 15 seconds, and stir the mixture again. Stir in the rum extract. While the muffins are still warm, spoon a little of the warm drizzle on each muffin. The muffins are great to eat warm or let them cool completely before eating them.
