Baked: Banana Muffins

My mom scribbled down this recipe from a friend's book and made these regularly when I was a kid. When I got to university, I made them so often that I eventually memorized the recipe. I made a lot of friends with these muffins. They are super moist and fluffy and make a wonderful breakfast. I zap the leftover muffins in the microwave for about 10-15 seconds each to make them taste just as good as freshly baked.

Depending on my mood, I may or may not add chocolate chips - fantastic either way. This time, I did half a batch of each. :)

Ingredients

• 3 large bananas - the riper, the better
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
• chocolate chips, chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Mash the bananas.
2. Add the sugar & egg, mix.
3. Add the melted butter/oil, mix.
4. Add the dry ingredients, mix.
5. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Baked: Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm craving something sweet and cakey for breakfast, and I do have a box of Tastykakes sitting around... but I couldn't very well eat just Tastykakes for breakfast. (Could I?) Anyway, I've been in a cooking and baking funk lately so I thought I'd break out of it by making myself a batch of muffins.

The basic (chip-less) recipe is once again from my trusty BHG Baking Book. It's not a complicated recipe by any means, but that's what I love about it. I had everything on hand and it took no time to whip these up. They're nice and light, not too sweet or rich. But really, these are all about the chocolate chips. There are also lots of other variations at the end of this post.

Ingredients

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 beaten egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil (I have been known to substitute melted butter in the past)
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Grease twelve 2-1/2 inch muffin cups or line with paper baking cups; set aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the centre of dry mixture; set aside.
3. In another mixing bowl, combine egg, milk, and oil. Add the egg mixture all at once to the dry mixture. Stir just until moistened; batter should be lumpy. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Spoon batter in prepared muffin cups, filling each two-thirds full. Bake in a 400F oven about 20 minutes or until golden. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm.

Variations
(These obviously don't include chocolate chips)

Buttermilk muffins: add 1/4 tsp baking soda to dry mixture and substitute buttermilk or sour milk for the milk.

Cheese muffins: stir 1/2 cup (2 oz) shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese into dry mixture.

Cranberry muffins: combine 1 cup coarsely chopped cranberries and 2 tbsp additional sugar. Fold into batter.

Oatmeal muffins: reduce flour to 1-1/3 cups and add 3/4 cup rolled oats to dry mixture.

Poppy seed muffins: increase sugar to 1/2 cup and add 1 tbsp poppy seed to dry mixture.

This recipe also lists a variation to make banana muffins, but I have an even better banana muffin recipe which I will post some other time.