Banana Bread or something new?

Banana Bread or something new? I went with new!  I had a bunch of overripe banana's and my usual go to thing to do would be banana nut bread. But I do have a load of cookbooks and a lazy afternoon, so I set out to find something different to make with them before they turned to complete mush. A banana daiquiri would be nice, but I had about six banana's, those could make a huge pitcher, not sure I would last through dinner with that many cocktails. One daiquiri, two daiquiri, three daiquiri, FLOOR!  So I went with Banana Bran Muffins. From The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread. They sounded really good. Although so does a daiquiri now and again!

First off the bat, my baking never usually is completely successful, I have few complete successes in this department. This time, in spite of myself, I had a winner. No smoke alarm, no overflow, no mess. Just good, moist, dense muffins. OK, so I skipped a step, I didn't toast the walnuts. I didn't have wheat bran, I had oat bran cereal. When I measured out most of a one pound box of bran to get 2 1/4 cups, I got a little nervous. But I was already 5 banana's and two sticks of butter into this thing. and I dumped it all into the stand mixer.

Seemed like I had a lot of batter. I used standard muffin pans like the recipe said. Maybe my standards are lower? But I ended up with way more than 12 muffins. Fine by us, these are fantastic. And I'll freeze some and see how that works! 

 I used my colorful silicone muffin cups. Love these things!

I should have filled the cups a little more. They didn't run all over the place. They came out great.

The silicone muffin cups work like a charm. No greasing the pan or anything, and the muffins just slid out perfectly! These tasted amazing and we loved the burst of the mushy banana in the middle. This recipe is a keeper!

That gooey glob in the middle is melted banana! and it's good. Really good!

Banana Bran and Toasted Walnut Muffins
Source: The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread, by Amy Scherber and Toy Kim Dupree.
Adapted by There's Always Thyme to Cook
Printable Recipe

Makes more than 12 large muffins

2 1/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups wheat bran (I used oat bran!)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 5)
2 sticks (1 cup) + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 1/3 cups walnut pieces, toasted (or not!)
1 or 2 ripe bananas, sliced into 12 chunks

Preheat to 350° F.

In the large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, bran, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the mashed banana and the softened butter until mixed. It may look lumpy, but that’s fine. Add the eggs and brown sugar and mix until thoroughly combined.

Gently fold the flour mixture into the banana mixture, just until combined. Do not overmix. Then fold in the toasted walnut pieces. *I put it all in the stand mixer and mixed it on the lowest setting until it was combined. Take care not to overwork the batter.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups. Push one banana chunk into the batter and cover the banana. The batter will be mounded over the top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the muffin comes out clean. The muffin tops should be medium brown.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack. Serve within 8 hours for best texture, and wrap the remainder in plastic to keep fresh.

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