Banana Bread Muffins

My delicious, fluffy, and moist banana bread muffins are the perfect accompaniment for your morning coffee!
My delicious, fluffy, and moist banana bread muffins are the perfect accompaniment for your morning coffee!

 

Y’all, this is the best banana bread recipe I’ve ever tried!  These muffins have a cloud-like texture with just the right balance of banana flavor and sweetness.  My friend Lauren has been a little down lately, so to cheer her up I whipped up a batch of these muffins.  Both she and Stella (her adorable pit bull) were smiling: mission accomplished.

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There are a million banana bread variations out there, and after many failed attempts, I finally found the right mix.  Spoiler alert: dairy is a must!  I use three extra ripe bananas in this recipe because I like a strong banana flavor.  Make sure your bananas are ripe, i.e., all yellow with brown spots.  Green bananas have no place in banana bread.

We are using melted butter instead of softened room temperature butter.  Softened butter certainly has it’s place, namely in cookies and cakes to give them an extra lift from the little pockets of butter.  However, with muffins, you want to mix them as little as possible to avoid a tough, brick-like texture.  You want to delicately fold the wet and dry ingredients together.  Ergo, we are going with melted butter this time.

For the dairy, I use plain, non-fat Greek yogurt for added moisture and flavor.  You can absolutely use sour cream if you do not have Greek yogurt on hand; the dairy is important to keep your muffins from drying out.  Last but not least, I use a 3:1 ratio of brown sugar to regular white sugar.  Most banana bread recipes use white sugar, but the brown sugar adds a much deeper flavor and helps to maintain moisture.

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These muffins come together very quickly, and I ended up with exactly 14 muffins.  The recipe also works in a 9″x 5″ loaf pan if you prefer, but it will take longer to cook.  You don’t even need your electric mixer for this recipe.

I added a sprinkle of chocolate chips to a few of the muffins, but feel free to omit the chocolate chips.  I would highly recommend adding in about a cup of chopped nuts to the batter before baking, but I kept it simple today without the nuts.  And of course, a big swirl of Nutella on top is absolutely fantastic!  Enjoy!

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Banana Bread Muffins

Wet Ingredients

3 ripe bananas mashed up

3/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark)

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup melted butter

1/3 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)

2 large eggs (room-temperature)

Dry Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

**1 cup chopped nuts **optional

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a muffin pan with the little cupcake/muffin holders and give it a quick spritz of non-stick cooking spray. (You may need 2 muffin pans – I ended up with 14 muffins instead of a perfect 12).**
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: mashed bananas, brown and white sugars, vanilla, melted butter, yogurt, and eggs.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix together your dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Add the flour mixture in several batches to your wet mixture, carefully folding ingredients together very gently.  Once all the flour mixture has been poured in, fold together until batter is just combined.  Do not over-mix.  The batter may be a bit lumpy – that’s okay.  **If you want to add nuts or chocolate chips, fold them in now.**
  5. Using a cookie scoop, fill each muffin tin until about 3/4 full and bake for about 18-20 minutes until golden brown or a toothpick comes out clean without batter sticking to it.
  6. Allow to cool in the pan for a couple minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.  Avoid covering the muffins until they have completely cooled so that the top do not get “sticky.”

*If using the same pan, do not pour muffin batter into a hot pan; allow it to cool before baking the last couple muffins.

**Nuts and/or chocolate chips are optional and should be added last, before you start filling the muffin pan.

 

Life is a kitchen, so put on your prettiest apron and whip up something incredible!

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Author

Shug

I answer to Shug. I believe that life is a special occasion. Based in Asheville, NC, I'm a baker, foodie, adventure-seeker, runner, former Obama staffer, and Carolina Tarheel. Lover of charcuterie boards, the color pink, and a buttery Chardonnay. These are my recipes, thoughts, and adventures. Thanks for stopping by.

Comment (7)

Christine (8 years ago)

Reply

Shug, these look absolutely scrumptious! I can’t wait to try out the recipe! Just out of curiosity, have you ever tried adding applesauce to your muffin mixtures to keep them moist? I’ve heard it works! Keep up the baking! Looking forward to more posts!

susan storey (7 years ago)

Reply

This recipe looks delicious. I love anything with bananas.

Shug (7 years ago)

Reply

They are delicious! It’s the dairy that keeps them moist and flavorful! I will make some at Christmas 🙂

Rebecca Flansburg (7 years ago)

Reply

Oohhhh this sounds so good! I know what I am making today! Stopping by from Messy Nest Mama Pin Party

Shug (7 years ago)

Reply

Thanks, Rebecca! Hope you enjoyed them! 🙂

Selena, The Rambler (7 years ago)

Reply

I love love Banana Bread muffins, especially with chocolate chips! I did a post as well, just sitting in my draft box waiting to be edited. Probably will be forever before I post it. Ugh. Haha Visiting from #Mama’sMondayPin Party =)

Shug (7 years ago)

Reply

Haha! I have tons of drafts… if only we all had more time to devote to blogging instead of working all the time! Thank you for checking out my recipe, and let me know when yours is posted, would love to check it out! Thanks!

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