O.k., so we’re not starting with a Swahili dish, but this is absolutely one of our favorite recipes around the Fraser house.
Before our trip to South Africa, we had a weekend team retreat to discuss the coming months. We took turns with breakfasts each morning and I made my favorite banana muffin/bread recipe. It’s Ina Garten’s recipe for Banana Crunch Muffins. The “crunch” comes from granola, coconut, and nuts. I made them often in the states but hadn’t yet baked them here, where fresh coconuts abound. What I thought would be a quick project turned into a rather lengthy one. After grating the coconuts and drying them in the sun, I gave them a quick turn on the stove with a little bit of sugar so they’d add the same sweetness you get from packaged flaked coconut. My favorite thing about these muffins is how chunky they are. You get chunks of coconut, granola, nuts, AND banana. In her brilliance, Mrs. Garten instructs to mash some of the banana but dice the rest, to make them chunkier and to give the lucky consumer more delicious banana taste. I baked the batter as bread and the loaves turned out perfectly. As a side note, I used to read warnings in recipes to “not over mix” and ignore them completely. I was NOT buyin’ it. But I have found this wisdom to yield better results every time. Hope you enjoy these as much as I have, courtesy of Ina.
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 extra-large eggs
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
- 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
- 1 cup small-diced walnuts
- 1 cup granola
- 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
- Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 18 large muffin cups with paper liners. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the melted butter and blend. Combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, and mashed bananas, and add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Scrape the bowl and blend well. Don’t over mix!Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola, and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each 1 to the top. Top each muffin with dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, remove from the pan, and serve.
