Staring at blackening bananas on my shelf as I wash the dishes. Contemplating...garbage? Compost bin? Freeze? Banana bread? I finished my chore and typed into the intergoogle, "uses for ripe bananas." Among many recipes for banana breads, cakes and puddings, I came across a very simple recipe for banana muffins. Inspired, I tweaked the basic recipe, adding spice, yogurt, and toasted oats for a delicious, moist cake.
Banana Oat Muffins
makes 12
muffin batter:
1/2 c rolled oats
2 tbls butter
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice
3 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 c white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten1/4 c butter, melted
1/3 c plain greek yogurt or sour cream
topping:
1/3 c packed brown sugar
2 tbls flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbls cold butter
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease or line muffin with muffin papers.
In a small saute pan over med-high heat, melt 2 tbls of butter. Add the oats, and toast them, stirring until golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, mix together flour baking soda and powder, spice and salt. In another bowl, with an electric mixer, combine bananas, sugar, egg, yogurt, cooled melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until completely moistened. Add the toasted oats and mix gently. **over-mixing will make the cake tough...for moist, tender cake, mix only until throughly combined!**
Spoon batter into muffin cups.
In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tbls flour and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tbls cold butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Spoon topping evenly over each muffin.
Bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.
