“Oatmeal raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the main reason I have trust issues” – Ancient Internet Proverb
I would argue that the same goes for many other food pairings.
Vanilla and white chocolate. Strawberry jam and cranberry sauce. 7Up and Tonic Water.
Or THE WORST: chicken salad and tuna salad (A mistake made more than once by yours truly at many a family gathering/church luncheon. Trust not a sandwich without crusts.…).
It all plays out in less than a second. The first excited bite, maybe you aren’t even paying attention because you brazenly just assumed you knew what you were eating. The moment of complete and utter confusion. The texture is off. The taste is off. The caveman-brained primal panic: IS IT BAD? IS IT BUGS? IS IT POISON? And then the final moment when your tastebuds finally FINALLY connect to your brain. You know this taste. It’s safe. In fact, it’s DELICIOUS! Just not what you were expecting.
This is an issue I have with banana muffins. Sure, cranberry is easy to spot – those red berries are unmistakable. Chocolate chips and blueberries, however, harder to distinguish from far away.
So I decided to supply you with a basic banana muffin recipe, and let you decide whether to put chocolate chips or blueberries in it.
…. or both….
Not only are these potentially evil muffins, but they also have, count ‘em, four bananas.
You heard me. Four. I mixed my banana bread recipe with this one from All Recipes and the result is a fluffy, moist, irresistible muffin that you will fall in love with.
To start, I have four bananas, of course. These ones had been frozen for a while. I find that black, overripe bananas are perfect for baking, so if ours get a little too ripe (a rare occurrence in this house!) they get tossed in the freezer.
I will be honest with you, over-ripe, thawed bananas are disgusting. DISGUSTING. So don’t look at them too long, just mush them all with a fork and mix in the salt and sugar. If you’ve got a mixer, keep beating until everything is smooth and doesn’t look like… whatever that previous picture looks like. QUICKLY!!!
Much better! Add the butter or margarine, and keep mixing! (Okay, I know my butter isn’t melted, but the hot water in a second will help! We are sans microwave so things are a little sketchy up in here)
In a separate bowl, beat two eggs and then toss those in. Mix the baking soda in the hot water before adding them to the bowl. It adds more to the ‘fluffy’ part of the recipe! Then the flour, baking powder and vanilla and mix it all together.
Then add your devious ingredients, blueberries and/or chocolate chips (~ 1 ½ cups should do, or however many you want!), carob chips if you are truly evil…
Grease a muffin tin and spoon the batter into the cups, about ¾ full.
Then toss ’em in the oven for 18-20 minutes. Try not to stare at them through the tiny window in the oven door….
To make sure they’re done, just insert a toothpick. It should come out clean. The muffins will be a beautiful golden brown.
These babies will be light…
… fluffy….
…moist…
- 4 overripe bananas
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup sugar (you can bring this down to ½ cup if you prefer)
- 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
- 2 well-beaten eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tbsp hot water
- 1 ½ cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups OPTIONAL ADD-INS: chocolate chips , blueberries, cranberries, carob chips... whatever you want!
-
Preheat oven to 350°
-
In a large bowl, mash bananas until there are no lumps.
-
Add salt and sugar, and mix thoroughly.
-
Pour in melted butter and eggs and mix thoroughly.
-
In a small cup or bowl, mix the baking soda with the boiled water, and then stir the mixture into the mixing bowl.
-
Add flour, baking powder and vanilla, and stir until completely mixed and lump free.
-
Add your mix-ins and stir until evenly distributed
-
Grease a muffin tin, and fill each cup about ¾ full with the batter.
-
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out clean.
-
Enjoy trapping your unsuspecting victims with SURPRISE muffins!
