Fun Fearless Foodie

When life gives you old bananas, make banana muffins!

Maybe it’s the foodie in me, but whenever I see produce that is on the verge of going bad I immediately stop and think, how can I use this up to make something delicious?  Wasting food is a huge pet peeve of mine, so this habit is not only good for my tummy, but the environment too.

The food in question this week was a bunch of brown bananas that were past their prime and very mushy. My first reaction was to make banana bread, a favorite of mine, so I turned to my beautiful and informative FCI Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts book in hopes of finding a recipe along those lines.  I have been searching for an excuse to use this illustrated guide through the entire Pastry Arts curriculum, being the very novice baker that I am.  Sure enough, the index pointed me to a recipe for Banana Crumb Bread.

As much as I like banana bread, there is something about making them into muffins that is more visually appealing to me.  It also makes for storing the extras in the freezer a cinch. Don’t need 12 muffins?  Individually wrap those you aren’t ready to eat in foil and pop them in a freezer bag, you can take them out of the freezer one by one and let them thaw out and enjoy at your leisure. Like I said before, no sense in throwing away food if you don’t have to.

After taking a quick inventory of the ingredient list I found that I had everything I needed to bake away, and opted for the muffin version over bread.  While the recipe is called “bread” it is really more like cake which isn’t a bad thing.  The muffins should really be called cupcakes, next time I’m going to think of a really delicious icing to put on top of these….but I digress.

This recipe includes a crumb topping, which I did make, but unsuccessfully.  It is really important that you use room temperature butter, and not anything softer than that.  My butter was a little too soft so I was unable to get a good crumb texture, and when I took the muffins out of the oven I could see that it just melted and didn’t crumb.  But, this is not a bad thing either.  If anything, it just gave them an even more buttery flavor with added sweetness from the brown sugar.  Visually they were not perfect, but taste wise, they were heaven.

Warning:  You may suffer intoxication from the aroma of banana muffins while they are baking, don’t be alarmed, take two deep breaths and wait patiently for them to cool.  Trust me, it’s worth it.

While the crumb topping melted, these moist bites of heaven still delight

Banana Crumb Muffins

Adapted from The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts, The French Culinary Institute

Makes 12 muffins or one 9 x 5 x 2 1/2 in loaf

Ingredients

For crumb topping (optional)

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour

For the bread/muffins

• Butter and flour for coating pan (save the butter wrapper and use it to coat pan)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, plus 1 tbsp, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 1/2 bananas, the riper the better)
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. Prepare your mise en place: have all your ingredients measured out and easily accessible.
2. To make the crumb topping, place the brown sugar and butter in a bowl of an electric mixer (or hand mixer) with the paddle attachment and beat on low speed for one minute, then on medium until it has a light consistency.  Add the cinnamon and vanilla and beat to incorporate.  Add the flour, a little at a time, until large crumbs start to form.  Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Lightly coat the interior of your bread or muffin pan with butter and flour to prevent them from sticking later on.
5. Rinse and dry the bowl used to make the crumb topping and add in the butter and beat on low speed until very soft.
6. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Occasionally scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
7. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition, frequently scraping down the sides of the bowl.
8. Add the bananas and beat to incorporate.
9. Once everything is well incorporated, add in the flour, salt and baking soda.  Beat to blend well but do not over-mix, if you over-mix the flour it will make the finished product tough.
10. Spoon the mixture into your bread or muffin pan and sprinkle an even layer of the crumb topping over the batter.
11. Place in the oven. If making bread bake for about 1 hour, or 30 minutes for muffins.  Be sure to check on them when there is about 5 minutes left and insert a toothpick or cake tester to check for doneness.  As soon as it comes out clean they are done.
12. Invert the bread or muffins onto a wire rack and let cool.

Your finished product should be super moist and flavorful with bits of banana in every bite.  If your crumb topping didn’t hold up don’t fret, as long as they taste delicious you won’t hear too many complaints.  You can store these in the fridge, well wrapped, for about 5 days.  Or, like I mentioned earlier, wrap them well and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.