Spiced brown butter banana muffins

The comfort food you're craving.

The only thing better than a fresh muffin might be a griddled day-old muffin. These last for a few days stored in an air-tight container and freeze beautifully, but they probably won’t last that long.

If you’re wondering why this is landing in your inbox a day early, it has nothing to do with the election - though it’s hard to imagine a cozier little treat to curl up with in front of the TV while we nervously wait for results.

No, my intentions are a bit more nefarious. Today there is a PTA bake sale and I slapped a QR code on my donation with the hopes that folks might be curious about the recipe and sign up for this little newsletter.

Trojan horse muffins. If you made your way here from the PTA, thank you.

Ok, back to the muffins, I do need to get these delivered to the bake sale after all.

I love a quick bread (which is what a muffin is). I truly have a separate compartment in my stomach for this type of treat - just sweet enough, and made to be eaten any time of day. If, like me, you appreciate a tender, flavorful baked good but identify as a non-baker, this is a recipe for you.

There is no special equipment required: a whisk, two bowls and a pan to brown the butter. If you don’t have a potato masher for the bananas, just beat them up with a fork. By far the the most difficult step (which is really not very difficult) is browning the butter. The trick there is to use your nose. Be confident and let that butter bubble and foam for a few minutes, but as soon as you smell that delightfully toasty change that screams richness and warmth, remove it from the heat.

Also be sure you are using very ripe bananas. I don’t know about you, but I’m terrible at banana math. I almost never buy the correct amount of bananas in my household for that short window where they are sweet-but-unspotted-enough that my kids will eat them. When you end up with overripe bananas just peel them and toss them in the freezer for smoothies, or making banana muffins. For this recipe do be sure to defrost them (on the counter, in the microwave, or in a saucepan) because if the bananas are too cold, the butter will seize and clump the sugar.

A small confession, this is one of the first baking recipes I’ve ever written in my 15 years as a recipe writer. I’m feeling both nervous and proud of myself for facing my fears. I’d be grateful for any feedback if you make the recipe.

Have a great week everybody,

Catherine

RECIPE

Spiced brown butter banana muffins

Makes 1 dozen

INGREDIENTS

½ cup salted butter, cut into tablespoon size chunks - if you have unsalted butter add ¾ of a teaspoon of kosher salt to the flour mixture

1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ cups very ripe bananas (3-4 large bananas)

¾ cup dark or light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons sour cream or full-fat greek yogurt

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners. 

2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium high heat, swirling or stirring occasionally until it foams, starts to smell toasty, and brown flecks form at the bottom of the pan - this will take 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in the cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4. In a large bowl mash the bananas with a potato masher and whisk in the spiced brown butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract and sour cream. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and whisk gently to combine.

5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 5 minutes at 425, then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Let muffins cool for five minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.