Banana Muffins

This recipe is based on one in the "Cooks' Illustrated Best Recipe" cookbook, and it's excellent: moist and flavorful, crisp-edged but tender, and with just the right balance of banana flavor and a wholesome graininess.

Like all muffins, these are best the first day -- but they're pretty good the second day too, which is lucky, since this recipe makes lots. You could halve the recipe of course -- or plan to send your kids to school with a lunchbox crammed full of them.

Yield: 2 dozen
Active time: 25 minutes
Total time: 45 - 50 minutes

1 1/3 cups white flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons wheat germ
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
scant teaspoon kosher salt (or half as much table salt)
3-4 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/3 cup yogurt (we often use Stonyfield Farm Banilla, but any fruit flavor is good, as is vanilla)
2 large eggs, beaten lightly
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, chopped coarse (raw is fine, but I like toasting them on a baking sheet at 350 until fragrant, 5-7 minutes)

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 and grease and flour two regular-sized muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter, and vanilla. Now use a rubber spatula to scrape this mixture into the dry ingredients, and fold it together, along with the pecans, swiftly but well, just until the dry ingredients have disappeared.
4. Now fill your muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown and just firm to the touch -- or until a toothpick comes out clean. (You don't want to overbake them -- obviously, but I want to say that anyway.) Cool in the pan for a minute before you tip them out and finish cooling them on a wire rack.

Read more about Catherine making banana muffins with her family.

See all recipes from Catherine Newman's "Dalai Mama Dishes" blog.