Comments on: Easy morning muffins, made to order

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:08:54 +0000

Kathryn! Experiments — albeit highly uncontrolled — have been conducted. Muffins have been eaten. Photos have been taken (see above). You can use the following substitutions:

For the flour, 3/4 cup white flour + 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour

For the sugar, 1/2 cup sugar + 2 frozen bananas, defrosted (in microwave on medium power for 2 minutes is fine) and mashed (should be scant 1 cup).

Bake for the full 22 minutes.

I added out-of-season blackberries and walnuts to ours and would not recommend the blackberry-banana situation, either in terms of sweetness or in terms of added moisture. Maybe try a combination of walnuts and soaked, drained dried cherries? Something dry and not too sour. No reason.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:46:52 +0000

Hi, Kathryn! I think you could easily swap out half the white flour for whole wheat flour. The texture would be a bit denser, but if you’re used to baking with whole wheat flour, you’d probably like them that way. If you decide to try them with more than half whole wheat flour, you should add an additional 1/2 tsp. of baking powder. I haven’t tried these yet with any whole wheat flour, so if you do it, please report back. I may try it this weekend, too, and update the recipe.

As for the frozen bananas, you know, I’m not sure. When bananas defrost, they get very liquidy, so I don’t think there would be any chance of your getting muffins with chunks of banana. Wouldn’t recommend tossing frozen chunks into the batter since the muffins don’t bake for very long. However, I think you could probably fold defrosted, mashed banana into the batter since the batter is quite thick. (Then, though, you might be disappointed to be eating banana muffins that aren’t spiced like banana muffins. Hmm.) Honestly, I can think of better uses for frozen bananas — namely banana ice cream and smoothies. People rave about this recipe for banana ice cream from Alton Brown, if you’re feeling motivated. Let us know what you decide!

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:54:50 +0000

If one was in the habit of buying bananas with the intent of eating them before they turned completely brown but always seemed to fail to do so, and thus had a freezer full of incredibly ripe (albeit frozen) bananas, would said bananas be appropriate for use in this recipe? And if so, should they be thawed before being folded into the batter or can they just be chopped frozen? I have only ever used frozen bananas in banana bread and am SO ready to try something new…

Also, any tips on incorporating whole wheat flour into this recipe?

Thanks as always for the great post and even better advice!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:12:05 +0000

Thanks, ladies!

Jill, I definitely see you making this one.

Elle, that ice cream of yours is fantastic. I can’t wait to haul out the ice cream maker for the summer and will definitely be giving that one a try.

Kalyn, how you could possibly hold down a teaching job in addition to all of your culinary work is beyond me. I know retirement from teaching is often bittersweet, but congrats! You totally deserve it.

By: Kalyn

Kalyn — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:04:20 +0000

Cute kids! This made me laugh out loud: “not trade my lucrative corporate job, on the eve of the next great depression, for the opportunity to park it on the couch during baby naptime and daydream out loud about food.” Maybe it’s because I’m abandoning my own not-lucrative-but-steady teaching job!

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:22:01 +0000

I love muffins, and having a great base recipe is such a good idea. Thanks for sharing--they look delicious! Adorable kiddos, too. Elle’s last blog post..Guacamole Ice Cream…sort of!

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:27:25 +0000

yummy!!!
another recipe I just may try!
and I LOVE the pic of the girlies!!!! :)