We are taking your favorite banana bread or muffin recipe and zhuzhing it up with For Good Granola, Original Blend. And this is a "3-for-1" folks. You decide how much zhuzh you need.
Option One: Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In
Option Two: Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In and a Granola Middle
Option Three: Banana Cupcakes with Granola Mix-In and Cream Cheese Frosting
Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In (Option One)
1. To start, gather all ingredients for your banana bread or muffin recipe. Don't have a favorite recipe? Try Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Ultimate Banana Bread. If your recipe is for banana bread and not muffins, no worries! A typical quick bread recipe that yields one 9"x 5" or one 8.5"x 4.5" loaf, should translate to about 24 muffins.
2. Preheat oven per your recipe. Prepare muffin pans with paper liners. If your recipe calls for nuts, you will omit those. Make batter as directed in recipe. Once all wet and dry ingredients have been added, fold in 1 cup of For Good Granola, Original Blend (including cherries!).
3. Portion batter among muffin tins. Don't be aggressive on the fill...you want each cup about two-thirds of the way full.
4. Bake as directed. Test with toothpick for doneness. Cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Carefully remove muffins from pans and cool on rack until room temperature. Can be stored in airtight container at room temperature or freeze.
Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In and a Granola Middle (Option Two)
1. Prepare the "Granola Middle" mixture. This recipe yields enough for 24 muffins.
ingredients:
1 1/4 cup For Good Granola, Original Blend (without cherries)
1/4 cup brown sugar
6 T unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
method:
Using fingertips, rub all ingredients together until well incorporated. Chill in refrigerator while making batter.
2. Follow steps 1-3 above in Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In (Option One).
3. After batter is portioned in muffin tins, remove chilled Granola Middle mixture from refrigerator. Crumble on top of muffin batter.
4. Bake muffins. Continue with step 4 above in Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In (Option One) to bake and cool. As the muffins bake, the cold butter will slowly melt and the granola will drop to the center of the muffins...magic!
Banana Cupcakes with Granola Mix-In and Cream Cheese Frosting (Option Three)
1. Follow steps 1-4 above in Banana Muffins with Granola Mix-In (Option One).
2. While baked muffins are cooling to room temperature, make the cream cheese frosting. This recipe yields enough for 24 cupcakes.
ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
5 T butter, softened
1 T sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
1 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
method:
In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment mix together on medium speed the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla bean paste until well combined, about 45 seconds. Scrape down sides of mixing bowl with rubber spatula. Add confectioner's sugar and mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 1 minute. Optional: transfer frosting to piping bag fitted with decorative tip.
3. Pipe or spread frosting on muffins/cupcakes as desired. Sprinkle top with For Good Granola, Original Blend (without cherries) to finish. Store in refrigerator after frosting.