Sunday, July 21, 2013

Nutrient Packed Banana Muffins

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It's one of those days where I have this crazy urge to bake anything and everything. I should be working on something productive, but instead I find myself in the kitchen baking away.  I don't think my residents would complain too much about that.  That's one of the best perks of my job.  I can bake and bake and bake and I have plenty of people to eat it all!  They make wonderful taste testers.

Today I decided to do a little experimenting with a muffin recipe.  One of my roommates has been craving banana bread, so I am dedicating these muffins to her. Her other obsession lately has been applesauce, which is another reason I am dedicating these muffins to her. The applesauce I added was used to replace all the butter in the banana muffin recipe I used for inspiration.

Funny story about the applesauce.  One night while she was reading the ingredients list on the applesauce container, she looked at me and said, "How do they get apples in there!? They'd have to really squish them."...................... I about died.  Gotta love her.  I hope I don't embarrass her too much by sharing this with all of you.  I just couldn't help myself shes too funny. :) 

Bananas and applesauce are not the only nutritious ingredients in these muffins either.  They also contain squash, raisins, and whole wheat flour.  I can't say I have ever made muffins with squash in them before, but you can't even taste it in there.  I've been learning a lot about squash through my internship this summer.  I am working on implementing Farm to School by designing a Harvest of the Month program for the district. In doing so, I have research and created educational posters for a TON of different vegetables.  Check out the winter squash poster I made for some fun facts!

NUTRIENT PACKED BANANA MUFFINS


Ingredients:
1/2 cup Winter squash, mashed
2 medium Bananas, mashed
1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2 large Eggs, whisked
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sweetener of choice (i.e. Stevia, spenda, etc.)*
2 tsp Vanilla
2 cups Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1-2 tsp Ground cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
1/2 cup Raisins (optional)

*Honey might work as well, but you would have to reduce the amount of liquid somewhere

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mash the squash, bananas, and applesauce together in a large bowl.
3. Whisk in the eggs, sugar, and vanilla.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
5. Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet.  Stir until just combined.  Do not over stir!
6. Fold in the raisins.
7. Scoop batter into a muffin pan.  (Note: I used muffin liners for easy clean up, but you can just grease the pan if you want)
8. Bake 15-20 minutes until done in the middle.
Makes 14 muffins.
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