Easy: check
Whole wheat : check
Fruit : check
Nuts : check
Morning muffin : yep
After school : works too
Beautiful spring weather ! Lush and green .. Birds chirping and I can see M going berserk chasing squirrels !! Wanted to make something in say 20 minutes for the kids 🙂
TGIF ! A1 away on some competition. A2 wanted a break..A3 is just happy to hang out at home…DH in the land of rising sun. M decided every squirrel real and imagined need to be greeted with a bark, wag and a chase. And if everything fails we can always dig the hole. I wonder if she is planning her escape route from my yard.. Sigh.
So planned a trip to the HD and chickened out in the last min. Gave me a lecture and made the appointment again before I chickened out again. Had an hour on my hand and an itch to do something. Red lipstick can only do so much.
Staring forlornly at me was 3 very very ripened bananas.. In a near black state. Well I had to something. I really had to because the earlier ones I made , the banana cinnamon ones were all out. Did not feel like repeating the batch. And also wanted something light, summery and had something citrusy to it. So adapted the same recipe and made this…
Prep Time: 10- 15 minutes
Baking Time: 18-22 minutes
Makes: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- White whole wheat flour : 1 Cup
- Unbleached and un bromated APF : 1/2 Cup
- Baking soda : 1 tsp.
- Baking powder : 1 tsp.
- Pure Vanilla Extract : 1 tsp.
- Salt : 1/2 tsp.
- Bananas: over ripe, 3,mashed very well.
- Soft brown sugar : 3/4 cup.
- Brown Egg: 1 , beaten
- Vegetable Oil : 1/3 cup.
- Walnuts :1/4 Cup. Chopped roughly
- Cranberries : Dried, 1/4 Cup, Chopped roughly
- Apricots: 1/4 Cup, Dried, Chopped roughly
Topping for Baking:
Reserve 3 Tbsp. of the chopped mixture to be added to the muffins before baking
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup of confectioner’s sugar/ powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp. of milk + 2-3 dropfuls as needed to just blend in
- 1 tsp. of pure orange extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a muffin / cupcake pan with 12 liners
- Mix the dry ingredients – both the flours, the baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk it very well to ensure even distribution. Set aside.
- Mash the 3 over ripe bananas very well. I typically like them without any big lumps.
- Beat the egg and vanilla extract with a fork.
- Add in the 1/3 cup of oil
- Mix the dry and wet ingredients together and beat until just combined. Do not over beat or over mix.
- Fold in the chopped nuts and dried fruits.
- Spoon it out in your prepared muffin pans
Fruit& Nut topping :
- Sprinkle the reserved chopped nuts and fruits as a topping over the spooned muffin batter .
Baking:
- Bake for about 18-22 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Glaze:
- Once the muffins are completely cooled, mix everything listed under the glaze and gently drizzle over.
- You don’t want this mix runny. Just a thick creamy one.
- Also you do not want to smother your muffins with icing sugar- Just a kiss should be enough.
Notes:
- Yes, you can use butter instead of oil. Just remember to melt it and be cooled down before you do so.
- You can add delicious crunchy pecans, pistachios and some toasted oats too.
- You can absolutely do this entirely using self rising flour alone. Just do not add any salt or baking powder. Reduce the baking soda to 1/2 tsp. and you will get soft fluffy muffins. Works like a charm every time.
- I did this with white whole wheat flour. The regular wheat flour from hardened red/golden wheat would yield slightly denser muffins. Tasty nonetheless.
- You can make this entirely out of WW flour too.