Banana Nut Muffins for #MuffinMonday

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

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I happen to have a fair amount of walnuts and pecans in my freezer... because none of my family really like nuts in their baked goods... but every now and then I get the urge to sneak a few in. I am happy to report that even with the cardinal sin of nut-inclusion in this recipe, these muffins didn't last very long in my house! They had a wonderful texture, and just a little extra crunch from the inclusion of the walnuts; they are lightly spiced, and lightly sweetened. Just like a good muffin should be! And - very importantly - they helped me use up a couple of the plethora of overripe bananas I keep in this house. Sometimes they're on the counter, looking dark, speckled and daring me to do something with them, and sometimes I pull them out of the freezer because I gave up on the ones on the counter, and relocated them to a more cryo-preserved state until inspiration would hit.

I have to say there has been a lot of banana-infused baking in this house over the past few months. Partially because we're buying more bananas, with everyone being home so much, and naturally there are weeks we can't get through them quickly enough so they start getting into that "bake with me or make me a smoothie" territory, and partially because I've been trying to make an effort to use up some of the odds and ends in my freezer - and that includes 2 fairly large bags with nothing but bananas in them! Happily I've gotten that down to just over 1 bag.. so progress!

Come see all of our Muffin Monday recipes!

• Banana Nut Muffins from Making Miracles
• Cherry Almond Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Cinnamon Sweet Potato Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Dark Chocolate Coffee Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Lavender Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Small Batch Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Spiced 'Tree Pumpkin' (Persimmon) Muffins from Culinary Adventures with Camilla

If you're looking for a basic banana nut muffin recipe anytime soon, we really enjoyed this one and I hope you will too!

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 2 bananas)
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, divided use

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 12-well muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray, or line with baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk to combine and set aside.
3. In another bowl melt the coconut oil if needed, and then stir in the mashed bananas and combine. Blend in the vanilla extract, and whisk in the egg.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry, and mix until combined (batter will be thick). Stir in 1/4 cup of the chopped walnuts.
5. Divide batter into the prepared muffin tin, and sprinkle remaining chopped nuts over the tops of the muffin batter.
6. Bake in the pre-heated oven 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire baking rack in the pan about 10-15 minutes before turning out to complete cooling! 

Recipe adapted from Citron Limette