Wednesday, August 21, 2013

10 Ways to use over-ripe bananas + A Yummy Muffin Recipe



We eat a lot of bananas in our house. All four of us love them, but most of the time we just don't eat them fast enough and I'm left with a bunch of over ripe bananas on the kitchen counter. I don't like to throw out food, and brown-spotted bananas are no exception!

Here are a few ways to use up those bananas when they've gotten past their prime:

1. Banana Bread
2. Chocolate covered bananas
3. Banana Sauce (super yummy over fresh fruit!)
4. Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
5. Banana Ice Cream (recipe)
6. Freeze to use in smoothies
7. Banana Oatmeal Muffins (my kids love this recipe!)
8. Frozen Peanut Butter Banana Sammies
9. Bake Chocolate Coconut Cookies (recipe)
10. Cinnamon Grilled Bananas (recipe)


One of my favorite recipes that includes bananas are my chocolate chip banana muffins.


They are perfect for breakfast, a snack on-the-go, or as a sweet treat in your kids lunch box.



These definitely fall in the "20%" category of our 80/20 real food rule, but like I've said in the past- it's ok to treat yourself sometimes! :)



Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
adapted from original recipe by Baked Perfection

Ingredients
1 C. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 C. whole-wheat flour
1 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder (this is easy to find at your local grocer!)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 C. dark chocolate chips
1 tbsp. whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp. turbinado sugar 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line muffin cups. 

In a large bowl (I use my KitchenAid), mix together all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour until well combined. Add in baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugars, vanilla, egg, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Be careful not to over-mix. 

In a small bowl, mix together chocolate chips and 1 tbsp. flour- this keeps the chocolate chips well dispersed in your muffin. Stir the chocolate chips into the batter. 

Fill muffin cups evenly and sprinkle the tops of each muffin with turbinado sugar. If you don't have turbinado sugar (I rarely do), you can just use granulated sugar or no sugar at all. 

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For mini muffins (great for school lunch or a quick sweet treat), start checking at 8 minutes. 



1 comment:

  1. I have brown bananas on my counter that I was going to make something with today, but I wasn't sure what to make. I'm sure my kids will thank you too after school.

    ReplyDelete

We love hearing from you guys- it makes our day!
{We typically respond to comments through e-mail as long as you have provided an email address.}

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...