I told you I like muffins…

The oatmeal muffins are gone, so today I made Banana Bran Muffins! This is hands down our favorite banana muffin recipe, and it comes from Eating Well magazine. They are just out of the oven, cooling in the wire rack, and the house smells so good... can't wait for breakfast tomorrow!
These are healthy muffins, not overly sweet, yet “bananaey” enough to satisfy an occasionally fruit craving!
The recipe calls for chocolate chips but I always omit it, as hubby says he does not like chocolate for breakfast (but drinks a huge cup of milk with nesquik with his muffins every single morning… go figure!). I have added raisins once and it makes a good combination with the bananas. Today I was out of walnuts and omitted that as well, but they do add a nice crunch to the top, so if you want to try the recipe and have walnuts hanging around, by all means add it!
Had a busy day today and did not cook much. Lunch was turkey burgers with acorn squash, nice and simple. The squash was delicious and I can’t believe I forgot to take a picture… oh well, no “problema” because we are definitely going to have more squash sometime soon!
That is it for today, I got my October Cooking Light in the mailbox today and there is a nice yummy looking soup in the cover, now if you excuse me I have some reading to do!

Ana

Banana-Bran Muffins
2 large eggs
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup unprocessed wheat bran
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray.
Whisk eggs and brown sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Whisk in bananas, buttermilk, bran, oil and vanilla.
Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the wet ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in chocolate chips, if using. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups (they'll be quite full). Sprinkle with walnuts, if using.
Bake the muffins until the tops are golden brown and spring back when touched lightly, 15 to 25 minutes. Loosen edges and turn muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving. Makes 1 dozen muffins.

Source: Eating Well Magazine – Winter 2004