Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins

Recipe courtesy of Bon Apetit Magazine at the end of this post.

We are moving soon. Moving again sends me spiraling. When I start to let the "I Cant's" creep into my mind, I remind myself that "I Can" and that "I Have." I remember moves past. I remember the things that were easy, and the things that were awful. And I remember God's hand in it all. It is the only way I keep bright in the foreground and bitter in the backdrop. And, on Sunday, the Banana Macadamia Nut muffins were more than muffins. They reminded me of a move to Hawaii made with apprehension with rewards of many blessings. I needed to be reminded.

It helped that our baby has suddenly, without notice, ended a banana breakfast ritual. He recently declared a banana strike. That is how I ended up with plenty of ripe bananas. It was also the end of just effortlessly preparing half of his breakfast. Truly this was a momentary grumbling point. I am over it now.

Following the Bon Appetit magazine recipe, I mashed 3 bananas. My bananas were not smooth like baby food puree. They had a bit of chunkiness to them. The recipe called for all things to be mixed by hand, so I assumed this was sufficient.

 

And when I added the sugars, eggs, and melted butter to the 3 bananas, I knew the reviews that declared these to be moist muffins were dead accurate.

 

Then I hand blended the wet ingredients I cannot even begin to express how appetizing bananas blended with sugars and pooled with melted butter and vanilla smells. Oh.My.Word. This was my favorite moment preparing the ingredients right here. The lumpiness of the bananas turned a bit smoother.

 

I did not chop the macadamia nuts very finely. I don't like digging for nuts when a recipe calls for them. I like them to be robust and present. The nuts on the right have not been chopped. The group on the left was the final result.

I toasted the macadamia nuts and chopped them before placing them in the batter. I almost did not toast them. It seemed silly if I they were going to bake in the oven anyway. But was I wrong! If you have ever wafted the smell of toasted macadamia nuts....oh heaven! Oh how I missed living in Hawaii when I pulled these out of the toaster oven.

 

I reserved the last of the nuts to top the batter. I may or may not have been a bit giddy at this point! The rich smell of the batter with the heaven of those toasted nuts...I almost did not want to part with the batter because I may have tasted it a time or two.

Finally, after 25 minutes I opened my oven and my family came running!

Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins
Courtesy Bon Apetit Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup unsalted macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers. Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl. Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk and egg in medium bowl. Mix into dry ingredients. Fold in half of nuts. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle tops of muffins with remaining macadamia nuts. Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Banana-Macadamia-Nut-Muffins-2050#ixzz1Eli1H1Km