[Recipe] Manifest Destiny for Brown Bananas : Healthy Banana Maple Muffins

      Nothing makes me feel like more of a domestic goddess than when I have fresh, delicious, homemade muffins on hand to eat and share. Similarly, nothing makes me feel like I’m living an especially abundant, waste-free life as when I find the perfect way to use food, especially organic produce, that’s going off and is ready to meet its ultimate fate. Welcome to your new favorite way to utilize brown bananas! 

Photo by Fabrizio Frigeni on Unsplash

(The phrase ‘Manifest Destiny’, as it pertains to my banana muffin recipe, has nothing to do with the philosophy that drove 19th century territorial expansion of the U.S. throughout North America. Rather, it is a nod to my personal existential philosophy that the bananas that end up in my muffins were never not meant to land there, mashed and marvelous, regardless of the smoothie and peanut butter sandwich notions they might have been originally purchased for.)

These muffins are the most ideal sweet-but-not-too-sweet snack to throw in your bag as a light breakfast or snack-on-the-go. Most notably, they’re also amazingly effective at staving off my desire to bring home sweets of the junkier kind - the ones devoid of all nutrition that are just basically sugar, fat, and artificial things, and contain nothing that my body actually wants to process. I've spent a good part of my life regularly consuming that stuff - you can consider me a recovering addict. If sugar is heroin to a sweet tooth, then these muffins are sweet methadone. And even a step beyond harm reduction, these muffins are totally wholesome and good for you. 

Photo by Taylor Kiser on Unsplash

TIPS:  

• When bananas are going brown and you’re pretty sure you won’t use them before they’re compost, pop them in the freezer, skin-on. When you’re ready to use them, thaw them out, snip the tip off, and squeeze them into your mixing bowl like a toddler emptying a perfectly good tube of toothpaste. 
• Make sure all of your ingredients are room temperature when you mix them - coconut oil will harden otherwise, which doesn’t make for evenly moist muffins. 
• You don’t need a mixer; just a wooden spoon, one mixing bowl, and one measuring cup. This works well for me, because I’m violently averse to unnecessary dish and utensil cleaning. 
• Stay organic where you can. Your eyes and taste buds may not immediately notice the difference, but on a cellular level, your body does. Self-love is giving your body what it deserves to run efficiently and beautifully! That said, sometimes we need to make do with whatever we have access to, to get stuff done - use your discretion. 
• When you’re mashing your bananas, let them remain a bit chunky if you want your batch to contain moist, sumptuous pockets of baked banana goodness. I’ve already used the word ‘moist’ twice - it’s going to be a good day. 
• Swap maple syrup for honey if you prefer. Just make sure it’s liquified before you mix it into your batter, so it spreads out and sweetens your muffins evenly.
• Paper muffin cups are not necessary! Save a bit of paper from unnecessarily reaching the trash by simply greasing your baking trays. Dip a marinade brush in coconut oil and brush it into the muffin holes / onto the cookie sheet. Or you can buy coconut oil in a spray bottle for this purpose. 
• Save a handful of oats/nuts/berries/chocolate chips/whatever you put inside, for a light sprinkling on the tops.

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS: 

1 ½ cups mashed bananas (about 4 bananas)

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

⅓ cup virgin coconut oil

¾ cup pure maple syrup

2 large eggs (or 3 medium ones!)

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ cup almond milk

½ tsp (or 7 half-turns of the salt mill) sea salt

2 cups whole wheat flour  

NON-ESSENTIAL (BUT TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!) INGREDIENTS: 

Nuts - all kinds! Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts, toasted almonds & walnuts - crush & mix in.

Hemp hearts - packed full of omegas, digestible proteins, vitamins, minerals and fiber! 

Chia seeds - a couple of teaspoons for a well-textured & delicious probiotic addition.

Cacao or Chocolate - a bad idea, said no one ever.  

Blueberries - you can use frozen, but let them thaw to room temperature before mixing in.

Cinnamon - just a dash, if you like that sort of thing.

Honey - can be used in place of maple syrup, or in harmony with.  

Oats - add that country-baked charm. 

Maple sugar - absolutely bomb as a sprinkle on top. Sprinkle it at half-time for that candied look. 

Photo by Piviso on Pixabay

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix ‘til ingredients are blended together, scraping the mixture off the sides of the bowl as you mix. 

This will yield enough for a muffin tray and a half. Or, if you don’t own a little half-tray and like me, just want to pop it all into the oven at the same time so you can wash the mixing bowl and get on with your day, pour the remaining batter in lumps onto a greased cookie sheet to make a crispier, more cookie-like version of the muffin.

2. Grease muffin tray and spoon mixture in. Bonus points if you make a nice, consistently even-sized batch because they’ll bake more evenly. 

(If you choose not to bother ensuring an even pour,  it may not yield an even batch but what it will give you is the opportunity to ponder something very important - who gets the big muffin in your life? Growing up, when baking with mom, we always saved the big muffin or cookie or slice of anything, for dad. I’ve come to regard dedicating the lion’s share of life’s sweet batches as a way of symbolically crowning the ones you appreciate the most. At this current juncture of your life, who would you give the big muffin to? )

3. Bake for 25 - 30 mins. Check oven at half time if you did the cookie sheet thing; they should be ready. Inserting a toothpick to test readiness is kinda useless with these muffins, because if you did your job right, moist pockets of banana will prevent the toothpick from coming out clean and dry. I just eyeball them - if they’ve risen nicely and there’s a bit of fresh-baked brown around the muffin top, they’re done. Less than 20 minutes in the oven and they’ll be too doughy. More than 30 minutes in the oven, and they may come out too dry. After a batch or two, you’ll be able to nail the timing.

4. Cool tray on rack. Loosen them from pan with a butterknife once they've cooled. 

5. Enjoy! Please comment below if you try my recipe and show some love with an upvote if you'll use your brown bananas this way again! 

Love, 

LP

Photo by Elliott Chau on Stocksnap