Banana nut muffins

My own laziness at getting around to making banana muffins this past week meant that my bananas were allowed to get even riper. All the better for a stab at a new type of banana muffins. While I love just straight banana muffins, I had an inkling to add something like walnuts into the mix. Lo and behold, there was a recipe of banana-walnut muffins ready made for my experimentation in Joy of Cooking.

Recipe

from Joy of CookingMakes 12 muffins1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour1/2 cup whole wheat flour or wheat bran2 tsp baking powder1/2 tsp baking soda1/4 tsp salt1 tsp ground cinnamon1/8 tsp grated or ground nutmeg2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts1 large egg3/4 cup packed light brown sugar1-1/3 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3)1/3 cup vegetable oil1 tsp vanilla Preheat oven to 375 F. Whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in walnuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, bananas, oil and vanilla. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and fold until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix; the batter should not be smooth. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake about 14 - 16 minutes.

Musings

A few notes on preparation: I didn't have wheat flour or bran, but I did have wheat germ. Despite several websites claiming they were interchangeable, I didn't want to completely swap them out. So I increased the all-purpose flour by 1/4 cup and then only put in a 1/4 cup of wheat germ. I appreciated the recipe's informing me not to over-mix (as I would have)...interestingly because if the batter is beaten too long, the gluten in the flour will develop and toughen it, making the muffins coarse and full of tunnels. It was also nice to know that the batter shouldn't be smooth (I always fret about lumps, so it's nice to know they're OK here).The muffins were scrumptious! Moist, sweet with a nice, occasional crunch from the walnuts. They'll make a great breakfast, as they're not too sweet.