Saturday, May 31, 2008

Banana Nut Muffins with Raisins

I had some bananas that had gone nicely brown, so I threw them in the freezer for a few days and decided to make some banana bread. I always freeze bananas before using them in a cake or bread - the ice crystals that form inside break down all the cell walls, so all the delicious juices come out without having to bother with mashing. When I'm ready to use them, I take them out of the freezer, let them get too room temperature, snip the top end off, then squeeze the banana out almost like squeezing toothpaste out of a tube.

I had leftover pecans and raisins, so I knew I'd end up throwing those into the dough. I also have a silicone muffin tray that I had yet to use, so I decided to make muffins instead of the standard loaf. As far as the recipe goes, I adopted this one after seeing something similar at Barbara Bakes.

Recipe:

1 c. mashed bananas (I used 2 medium)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. yogurt
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. pecans, chopped
1/3 c. raisins

Combine the bananas, sugar, yogurt, butter, and eggs in a stand mixer bowl and whisk together for approximately 5 minutes, medium speed. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Remove bowl from stand mixer, and pour the sifted dry ingredients on top. Add the pecans and raisins, then fold with a rubber spatula until all the ingredients have just come together. Do not overmix! There may still be clumps of flour; there is no need to make the mixture homogenous. Preheat oven to 350ºF, then pour into a muffin tray (depending on size, you may have leftover batter - I made 6 muffins, but could have made 7). Bake for 25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a knife inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out dry. Allow to cool before removing from the tray.

2 comments:

Elle said...

Wow, those look great! Can you email one to me for breakfast tomorrow? hehe.

Eleganza Strings/ The DeLadurantey Family said...

I can smell the banana!