Banana Spice Muffins

Recipe by The View From the Great Island

Banana Spice Muffins ~ you know how it is, you always crave what you can’t have.  I’ve never been able to eat bananas.  They give me a really bad stomach ache and I’ve avoided them like the plague.  My mother was the same way.  But if you search banana on this blog you’ll find Banana Rum Cake and Banana Buttermilk Pancakes, and I often sneak banana into my favorite Bran Muffins.  No, I don’t have a death wish, but recently I discovered that if I heat the mashed banana in the microwave for a minute or so before adding it to these recipes, I can eat it just fine.  Who knew?  Now I can’t get enough of the stuff.  If you’re one of the two other people on the planet who can’t eat bananas, this is big news. I love this particular mix of spices.  I’ve used cardamom where you’d usually find cinnamon, and it makes all the difference.  The first bite won’t catapult you right back to the old Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, and that’s a good thing.  The aroma is more exotic and sophisticated.  Grate the nutmeg over the batter with a micro-plane; you won’t believe the difference it …

Ingredients

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup oat flour
• ½ cup oat bran
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• heaping 1/4 tsp cardamom
• heaping 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• heaping 1/4 tsp allspice
• heaping 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• crumble topping:
• ¼ cup oat flour
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp rolled oats
• ½ cup walnuts (chopped)
• 2 tbsp butter (I was out of butter and used coconut oil, it worked fine)
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• ⅔ cup mashed banana (about 2 small)
• ½ cup buttermilk
• ½ cup walnuts (chopped)

Method

1. Set oven to 375F
2. Whisk together the above dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.
3. Mix together the flour, sugar, oats, nuts and butter with your fingertips until it is all combined and has a coarse crumb. Set aside.
4. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, banana, buttermilk and nuts. Mix thoroughly.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix together just until blended.
6. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, or use liners. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Top with the crumb topping and bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool on a rack.

View the recipe instructions at The View From the Great Island