These muffins are good and a little different from run-of-the-mill banana muffins. The muffins take about 30 minutes to mix up and bake and are great when you have a couple of overripe (i.e., it's okay if they are mushy) bananas on hand and want something special for dinner or a breakfast treat. The muffins are sweet but not cake-like. They are muffins, not cupcakes! Soft and moist, the muffins have a subtle maple flavor to them, which goes well with the bananas. The walnuts toast on top of the muffins and provide a nice crunch. Enjoy!
Maple-Walnut Banana Muffins -- Makes 12
2 large extremely ripe bananas, mashed (about a cup or so)
1 large egg
1/3 cup of canola oil
2/3 cup of milk
1/2 teaspoon of maple extract
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Turbinado or raw sugar for sprinkling (optional, but good)
1 cup of broken or chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a 12-well muffin tin with cupcake liners and spritz the liners with non-stick spray. Or just spray the muffin wells with the non-stick spray. In a large bowl whisk together well the masked bananas, egg, oil, milk, maple extract, and sugars. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until combined and no white streaks remain (don't beat the batter). Divide the batter among the wells in the muffin tin. Sprinkle the top of the batter in each well with a little of the turbinado sugar (you can also use regular sugar) and then the walnuts. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and a pick inserted in a muffin comes out with no wet batter attached. Let the muffins cool in their tin for 5-10 minutes before removing them to cool completely or eating them.
