Do you know the game two truths and a lie? It's a game that is often played as an icebreaker--but I think it is way more fun to play with people you know really well. The short version is that each person has to say three statements about themselves, two true and one false. The other participants have to guess which statement is the lie. Let's play this game D-Dishes style.
1. I did my spring cleaning months ago, and this recipe is just something I forgot to post until today.
2. These muffins are adapted from a recipe I once found on the website of a geek magician who calls himself Zoltan the Adequate.
3. These banana muffins are out-of-control delicious.
If you guessed #1, congratulations! I did my spring cleaning yesterday...on June 11th. While I would normally be embarrassed about sharing this fact, today I don't mind because a) my apartment looks amazing and b) while cleaning out my freezer, I discovered these insanely large, sure-to-be-deliciously-mushy-once-they-thawed bananas. When life gives you bad bananas, do not make lemonade (gross!)--make banana muffins! Before we get into the recipe, I am sure you are just dying to know about Zoltan. I was in charge of bringing guacamole to my 8th grade end of year party at our English teacher's house, and for some reason this recipe was one of the first to pop up. It resides on the website of Andy Blau, aka the Geek Magician, aka Zoltan the Adequate. I made the guacamole and it was damn delicious. Magical, even. So I figured, why not try this guy's banana muffin recipe? Let me tell you, that was definitely the best party of 8th grade--maybe even of my whole life. There were so many people in the hot tub that it broke (sorry Ms. Powers). As soon as people clambered out of the hot tub, the previously cloudless sky turned a nasty shade of grey-green and a massive downpour had around 90 8th graders tracking mud and pool water into the house (sorry again!) I remember playing a moderately successful game of Taboo, and maybe even a round or two of two truths and a lie. So trust me when I say if you want to party, make these muffins.
My favorite thing about Zoltan the Adequate's recipes is that they are so easy to follow. No frills, practically no instructions, lots of jokes. My kind of cooking. Wet ingredients are mixed together, dry ingredients are mixed together, they marry in a loose batter that is mostly banana...plus a few extra treats.
Wet ingredients--brown sugar will be sweetly crumbly, butter will be melted, eggs will be beaten, alien bananas will be mutilated.
Dry ingredients--flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda. I know these are necessary for baking...but I don't like them, as you will see below.
Let's start with wet ingredients. Frozen bananas! Food of the gods! If I could only eat frozen bananas for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly happy. This step is pretty fun--a good task for children, your friends who want to help but don't know how to cook, or me on an angry day.
Frozen mashed banana has the texture of really good ice cream. See?
Now for the good stuff: combine the beaten eggs, brown sugar, melted butter and mashed banana. It will look disgusting--but taste delicious.
Plain ol' dry ingredients are not that interesting. Flour is so uninspiring on camera, nasty if you accidentally eat some raw, and really upsets me when it swallows all the other white ingredients in a photo so I don't have proof for you of adding salt, baking powder, and baking soda. You'll just have to trust me that I mixed the four dry ingredients together.
And then things got weird.
Why should I have to choose what I want in my muffins? That seems plain unfair. The obvious answer is to just make two batches of muffins--each with different mix ins! So here we have some walnuts, mixed into the dry ingredients before adding the wet. I decided to gild the lily a bit here, and added about two tablespoons of instant espresso to the wet ingredients for these muffins. Coffee Walnut Banana Muffins? Heck yeah. But then things got even weirder...
How did these peanut butter chips get in here?!
What idiot dropped chocolate chips in, too?! (You guys, it was me). Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins? Don't mind if I do.
Time to get serious--you do not want a hard muffin. It will actually ruin your day. To avoid this travesty, mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients loosely, folding them into one another until they are just barely mixed. If some streaks of flour are showing, let it happen. It will be better than the muffin you would otherwise get, which you could probably use as a hockey puck. This photo was taken after two folds. I used about twelve folds to mix them together, but to each their own. Be guided by your instincts and desire for the perfect banana muffin.
Into the muffin tins we go! These get popped into a 350 degree over for about 20 minutes. But it only takes 10 for your house to smell divine.
Out of the muffin tins we come! Here are the Coffee Walnut...
And here are the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. Sometimes not choosing is the best choice.
I hope the rest of your week is filled with magic, muffins, tiny succulent plants, games, and everything else that is good in life. And of course the Banana Song--it's what makes life worth living.
Banana Muffins
Adapted from Zoltan the Adequate
Notes: I used brown sugar and reduced the amount, because I think it makes the muffins a little nuttier and they are already quite sweet from the bananas. This recipe makes 12 muffins--in the pictures you may notice I made a double recipe. It was a great choice.
Wet Ingredients:
- 3 large or 4 medium mashed bananas
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 large egg, slightly beaten
- 1/3 of a cup of melted butter or margarine
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup whatever combination of mix ins your heart desires--be they chocolate or peanut butter chips, nuts,
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