Tasty Tuesdays: Banana Muffins

I have a bad habit of collecting old bananas and then never getting around to making them into anything. At any given time I may have a dozen black bananas looking nasty and taking up space in my freezer. I had a few creepy looking guys hanging out on my counter so I whipped up some muffins using this yummy recipe I found over at The Joy of Baking. Let's be honest, "whipped up" for me these days means it took me an hour to get the mix together but if you aren't running up and down stairs to calm a (supposed to be napping) baby and changing loads of laundry you could prepare these puppies in record time.

Love this recipe: taking the time to write it on a card in my recipe book which means I REALLY like it.

What You Need to make 12 regular sized muffins (copied from The Joy of Baking website with my notes in italics)

1 cup walnuts or pecans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (didn't have any or couldn't find it in my mess of a cupboard so I omitted this)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (whoops just realized I left this out. Yes I definitely was distracted)

What You Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
Line a 12 - 1/2 cup muffin pan with paper liners or butter or spray with a non stick spray.
Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. I didn't bother doing this and they turned out FANTASTIC still
Let cool and then chop coarsely.
In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth. Over mixing the batter will yield tough, rubbery bread.)
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake about 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes and then remove muffins from pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. Or gobble immediately after removing from the pan while downing a glass of cold milk