Go Bananas!

It never fails, I buy a nice bunch of green bananas with the best of intentions and before I know it, they're over ripe. But the bunch I had on the counter this weekend were REALLY over ripe. Black ripe. Banana bread ripe.

I used a recipe from a place that rhymes with America's Test Bitchin' and modified it just slightly. Modification #1: I added shredded coconut. Modification #2: I used sour cream instead of plain yogurt. And modifications #3 & 4: I used a muffin pan with removable bottoms instead of a loaf pan and adjusted the cooking time. The pan looks like this one only with square instead of heart shaped sections. Every once in a while you can find them on Bakers Catalogue.

And I must say, this was one of easiest and best recipes I've used yet. They were very moist and tender and bursting full of banana flavor.

Banana-Coconut Muffins
2 cups All-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large (or 4 med sized) very ripe bananas, mashed
(about 1-1/2 cups)
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/4 sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan and set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the mashed bananas, eggs, butter, sour cream and vanilla. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour with a rubber spatula just until combined. Do not overmix. It's ok if the batter looks thick and lumpy.

Scoop the batter into each muffin cup. Fill about 1/2 full. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until they are golden brown and a knife inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool. (they're also great still warm from the oven)