Whole Grain Banana Spice Surprise Muffins

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A few days ago, I reached in the back of our refrigerator and immediately forgot what I was searching for. Why? Because my fingers touched the most disgusting object possible among the world of the once-edibles (and no, I’m not talking about celery): black bananas.

Keep in mind that my fingers didn’t just graze this pile of putrid unpleasantness … oh, no. I sightlessly grabbed those black bananas with all the strength my T-rex arms could muster. I think our neighbors in the next county could hear my screams, followed by: “PETER!” He’s still got a cold, so I’ll cut him some slack. This time.

I found a solution to my problem when my wonderful Greek friend Christa mentioned how much she loves bananas. I based this recipe off of my favorite banana crumb muffins, added spice for kick and included a surprise in the middle of each muffin.

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That’s right!  These muffins are filled with either strawberry jam, peanut butter, or hazelnut spread. Check out the results below.

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I didn’t bake mine quite long enough, so the centers collapsed. Rest assured the taste did not suffer despite the saggy roof. Feel free to experiment with the centers. I plan to try chocolate kisses, Biscoff spread and candied bacon (yes, bacon) next.

Whole Grain Banana Spice Surprise Muffins

  Prep Time: 15 minutes

  Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

  Keywords: bake dessert breakfast snack cake

Ingredients (12 muffins)

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoons ground allspice
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup rolled oats
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup regular yogurt, unsweetened
  • 2 very ripe large bananas, mashed

Filling Suggestions:

  • Jam/Jelly
  • Peanut butter
  • Nutella

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the softened butter for three minutes. Add sugars, allspice and cinnamon, and beat until fluffy, about five minutes.

Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Using a large spoon, fill each muffin cup 1/3 full. Add one teaspoon of filling to each muffin cup, then add batter until each cup is 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, or until muffin tops are browned and completely set. Let cool in muffin tin for 5 minutes, and then turn onto wire rack to finish cooling. Frost if desired.

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Q: What’s the worst thing you’ve found in your fridge?

14 Comments

  1. Yum! Love the idea of filling the centre…especially with hazelnut spread. Mmmm…

    My kids can leave some pretty gross stuff in the fridge, but it’s the nastiness that my hands pull out of their lunch boxes sometimes that’s even worse!

    1. That sounds awful! :O

  2. Ahhhh Jessie that’s a brilliant idea!!! You know I’m trying them as soon as I get my hands on ripe bananas, right? I bet the hazelnut spread ones will taste like chocolate-banana crepes, only better!

    I noticed you did away with the streusel topping here, do you think it would make them too sweet?

    The worst thing I’ve found in my fridge hm… some kind of white mould I found once on long-forgotten tomatoes. That was scary stuff. Or a new antibiotic. But somehow, I don’t want to know.

    Get well soon Peter!

    1. “A new antibiotic” – haha! That sounds really gross, though!

      I felt these muffins were fancy enough without the streusel topping, but the topping is pretty tasty so I think I’ll include it next time. I also thought about using a cream cheese frosting. So many possibilities! 🙂

  3. These look incredibly delicious! Love muffins, love bananas, love delicious fillings so this is a must-bake item 😉

  4. funny how you wrote this post now because I need toss away some home made cranberry jam (sob sob) because its been sitting in my fridge for too long which I was going to use in muffin like this. Need to get into muffin making with peanut butter ASAP! thanks for the reminder

  5. Ripe bananas are so good for muffins and bread. I love the twist you put on this recipe. I’m all about surprises! And of course, I adore banana muffins on their own, and I could probably eat at least three of these in one sitting! Thank you for sharing!

  6. The muffins with the surprises in the middle sound great!

    Like Krista, it’s the lunchboxes that hold surprises for me. I remember one year when my older son didn’t eat his sandwiches for a couple weeks! and left them on the bottom of his backpack. I found them when I cleaned it out at the end of the school year. The backpack went right into the trash. It was awful!

    1. I can’t even imagine! :O

  7. How funny, I’m posting a recipe very similar to this next week!! Yours look better 🙂 Yeah, I tried to make mine lighter….if that tells you anything.

  8. These Muffins sound so delicious.

    I found I container of fermented night crawlers in the back of the frig once.
    Took awhile to figure out where that smell was coming from.
    That’s not happening again.

    1. I just got the shivers :O

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