Month-of-Few Ingredients: Going Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins

A reminder:

House rules for what counts as an ingredient:

Salt and pepper are not ingredients.

Oil is not an ingredient when it’s for the cooking pan, not the recipe.

Water is not an ingredient.

I must admit to some skepticism when I came across the muffin recipe from The Big Man’s World.

No eggs. No oil. No leavening agent. How would they rise? What would the texture be like?

As you can see from muffin pan, the recipe only delivered eleven of the promised twelve muffins. That’s okay, I thought. My Pecan Cran-Oatmeal cookies sometimes gives me seven dozen and sometimes only six dozen and a few. Since I’m not, ahem, great at measuring, that’s explainable

Also the original recipe said to spray the muffin pan or use muffin liners. I tried half (well, almost) of each to see which gave the better results.

But neither really did rise as traditional muffins do. You can see from this picture below that the ones in the sprayed muffin pan came to about half the height of the ones in the muffin liners. Odd, right? And the texture of the muffins was more like fudgy brownies rather than the traditional, dryer muffin.

So what you get is a two to three bite very soft muffin. But, mmmm, they are tasty!

These muffins can be a great addition to a nutritious breakfast. Or do as we sometimes do and serve muffins as dinner bread for a change. This recipe originally was gluten-free, but I used all-purpose flour instead of coconut flour. Without added oil (of course the nut butter is oily) and maple syrup instead of sugar, these muffins are rather healthful.

They freeze wonderfully, so bake the dozen-ish and then pop leftovers in the freezer and just heat up when you want a fruit and nut muffin.

Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins

3 large overripe, bananas

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup chunky nut butter

1/3 cup real maple syrup

½ cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-hole muffin tin with non-stick spray or use cupcake liners. 

Mix bananas, flour, nut butter, and syrup until well combined and smooth. 

Fold in blueberries.

Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake for 20-22 minutes (check for doneness to see if more time needed). Muffin tin cups will be about 1/3 full.

DH’s Rating: Three Tongues Up  “These are pretty sweet, aren’t they? How much sugar do they have?”  My health-conscious guy was relieved when I told him the sweetness came from bananas and a little maple syrup. But, he said he won’t ask for them again. Too bad. Easy. Quick. Nutritious.

NOTE:

I store overripe  bananas in the freezer just for recipes like this. I used a multi-nut and seed butter from Costco but any chunky nut butter will work.

If you liked this recipe, please share on social media using info below or write your own!

Twitter: #recipe for Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins by @good2tweat on Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time athttp://bit.ly/2kXJrHN

Facebook: Sharon Arthur Moore-Author writes the “Parsley, Sage, and Rosemary Time” blog. It's posting its annual February Month-of recipes. This month's recipes have 2-5 ingredients. Today make these Go Bananas and Nuts Blueberry Muffins at http://bit.ly/2kXJrHN

Million-Way Muffins

We love muffins at our house--savory and sweet, and there’s always a kind or two in the freezer for when someone drops by. So when I read Mark Bittman’s post on modifying a basic recipe to make many kinds of muffins, I knew I had to do a post on this myself.

Bittman’s article is found at http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/mark-bittman-muffins-infinite-ways-180900902.html

I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. (I’m kind of a Bittman groupie. I read everything of his I come across.)

His recipe is here with some of his modifications. Then I include some of my own recipes adaptations. (In Mission Impastable (Oak Tree Press), I included a blueberry muffin recipe from a friend’s mother that has great sentimental value for me. I did an earlier post on that recipe.) Muffins and I go way back.

Muffins are an amazingly versatile and forgiving batter. Play with combos that sound interesting to you. Adding ½ to ¾ cup of nuts increases the protein. Adding fresh or dried fruits increases food value, too. I love spices, so I’ll play with cardamon and banana instead of cinnamon. Or go crazy and dump the spices you use for pumpkin pie (sans or with pumpkin) to make spice muffins. Lemon zest and rosemary? Mmm mmm good!

Cut down the sugar to make muffins more savory and add cheese and basil. Use olive oil instead of vegetable oil or butter. Tarragon is an amazing flavor for muffins. Put in onions instead of fruit. Do you like a green chilies and corn combo? Why not put in black beans for fun? Go for it.

Use his basic recipe for proportions not necessarily for ingredients. Think of the ingredients as categories to include.

Mark Bittman’s Muffins, Infinite Ways

Makes: 12 medium or 8 large muffins
Time: About 40 minutes

3 tablespoons melted butter or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, plus more for the muffin tin
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1 cup milk, plus more if needed 

1. Heat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin and line it with paper or foil muffin cups if you like. 

2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat together the egg, milk, and melted butter or oil in another bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it. Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, combine the ingredients swiftly, stirring and folding rather than beating and stopping as soon as all the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter should be lumpy, not smooth, and thick but quite moist; add a little more milk or other liquid if necessary. 

3. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them about two-thirds full and handling the batter as little as  possible. (If you prefer bigger muffins, fill 8 cups almost to the top; pour 1/4 cup water into the empty cups.) Bake for about 20 minutes (about 30 minutes for larger muffins) or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tin. Serve warm.

Sometimes Bittman suggests whole wheat flour or half-whole wheat/half white. You can substitute wheat bran or wheat flour (I food process quick oats). Substitute corn meal or graham cracker crumbs for part of the flour. Look through your shelves for things to toss in. I love chia seeds, for instance. Go for the unexpected in your muffins.

To his basic batter, you can substitute honey, molasses, maple syrup, or brown sugar instead of granulated sugar. I like to add Greek yogurt in place of milk to up the protein. Of course, we all know that ripe mashed banana can replace part of the oil to make muffins less fatty. Add in some cooked quinoa or rice in lieu of some of the flour. You can always adjust the batter stiffness with more milk or yogurt.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD! Muffin-making can be highly entertaining. But you might not be able to give the recipe to someone who really likes what you baked---at least that’s true if you cook like me. And if the muffins don’t work out, well, you can always become a writer! Culinary mysteries are fun!