Mom-To-Be Freezer Meal - Banana Nut Bread Muffins (Nuts Optional)

Is it a surprise that I'm going to be talking about a recipe from one of my favourite recipes books? The Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking has a great banana bread recipe, and it's quickly become a Go-To for me. It doesn't give instructions or timing adjustments in the book if you want to make muffins instead of a full loaf, so I took the liberty of testing it out. If you choose to make muffins with this recipe, it takes 25-30 minutes until they are done, depending on the climate and region you live in, of course.

 

Now, the reason I have the '(Nuts Optional)' in the posts title, is because I don't often care for nuts in my banana bread - I usually replace the nuts with chocolate chips.

 

Delving a little deeper into why I absolutely <3 LOVE <3 this recipe, is because it's SO versatile! I've subsituted the nuts with so many different ingredients it's ridiculous - and I've loved all of the variations I've tried to date. Below, is a list of substitutions that I've tried and loved.

• Fresh peaches (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Fresh Nectarines (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Chocolate chips, obviously
• Fresh cranberries (I've also tried this with fresh that I've flash frozen myself)
• Apple

In the future, I would love to try blueberries (thankfully, we have a blueberry farm in the local area, which I plan to visit in the summer) dried cherries and I think it would be interesting to try this recipe with pumpkin. I'm not usually a fan of pumpkin, but I'd like to start experimenting.

To freeze these muffins, I wait until they are completely cooled and then simply toss them into a freezer bag.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe for the:
Williams-Sonoma Banana Nut Bread
Ingredients:
2 large bananas
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I don't often have whole wheat flour, so I just add more all purpose flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (For those of you who know me, know that I skip adding salt to most recipes)
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg (I add more but I don't measure it out, I also add cinnamon and ground ginger. For these spices, I go by the fragrance they make together rather than measuring)
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or whatever you'd like to substitute)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
6 tbsp unsalted melted butter
1/2 cup whole milk

Directions:
Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees, butter and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan - if making muffins, generously butter the muffin tin. I prefer not to flour the muffin tin.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas. You should have 1 1/3 cups. In a seperate bowl, stir together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt (if using) nutmeg (cinnamon and ginger if using), orange zest, and nuts - or chocolate chips. If you are going to use a dried fruit, add it now as well. If you are using fresh fruit, either add it in with the mashed banana or after the batter is formed.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended and stir in the brown sugar, butter and milk. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches, alternately with the bananas and stir with a rubber spatula unitl just the batter is moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top with the rubber spatula. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, 50-60 minutes for a loaf, 25-30 minutes for muffins. If the surface starts to brown too much (I haven't had this problem with the muffins), cover with a sheet of aluminum foil for the last 15 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack and cool completely. For the muffins, they should come out rather easily, but if they don't you may want to leave them in the tin for just a little longer, but don't be afraid to sacrifice one muffin to see if they are ready to come out.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or freeze up to one month.