comment icon 123 more comments But don’t think I’m getting all crazy with the new because you know I like routine and familiar and predictability something fierce. As a result, today my new food things are being delivered to your mouth in the form of an old, predictably delicious favorite: JUMBO MUFFINS. Friends, I do not mess around with baby muffins. If you are a mini muffin baker, you win the Better Person with More Self Control and Cuteness award. I generally do not associate with any kind of mini muffinery. In my muffin-baking kitchen, we go big or we go muffin-less. 12 cup muffin tin? Try again, baby muffin lover. I bought this massive 6 cup muffin tin at a thrift store and I’ve never looked back. Jumbo muffins are where it’s at. Also – caramelized bananas. LIKE WHAT. If there is a better cooking color than deep golden brown, I haven’t found it yet. There is some inappropriately deep satisfaction that I feel when I look at those perfectly golden nuggets of sweetness. And there you have New Thing #1: caramelized bananas. Eyeroll. I know, you’re a foodie and you’ve been doing this for years. Yeah yeah yeah. Just let me have my moment, okay? These are very new and very awesome to my world. The knowledge that you can just slice a banana and bake at 400 degrees for this beauty is possibly going to change the course of my life. It’s so simple and so, so sweetly good with just one feel-good ingredient. Hey look at me, Mom! No added sugar! New Thing #2: oat flour. Disclaimer – I do not have a background in hippie foods and therefore I don’t know if what I’ve created here would be technically considered oat flour. Alternative flour-ers and hippies alike are welcome to correct or confirm in the comments. Here’s my definition of oat flour: I just basically took the rolled oats – PS. love using rolled oats here because they’re almost always in the pantry, right? requiring no trip to the store, right? WINNING – and pulsed them continuously through my food processor for about a minute until this flour-like meal formed. Then I used that oat flour instead of a big yucky cup of whole wheat flour because, you guys, that stuff is not what my dreams are made of. I think I tricked myself into liking whole wheat flour and its related baked goods for a few years there, but yeesh. My more mature (because not liking whole wheat flour is obviously mature) older self says nooo thank you and please pass the friendly, yummy oats. I can’t take all the credit for this deliciously and naturally sweet muffin recipe that you can feel good eating (even when it’s jumbo). Usually when I’m baking, I’m working off at least 52 other recipes and this was no exception. There were two sources of inspo that stood out here: sweet Heather kind of made me obsessed with the caramelized banana thing in her no sugar added banana bread, and my new friend Lisa showed me how to make a really awesome whole wheat muffin that could be adapted any which way to get it just how I wanted it. Friends are friends forever when they inspire these kinds of yums. So the results are in: these caramelized banana oat muffins are naturally sweet yummification. They are slightly puffed and crisped on top and packed with bites of warm, sweet caramelized banana on the inside. They beg for a tiny little slab of melted butter and a vanilla latte. Do it now now now. Plus that little oatmeal topping that gets crispy and perfect. Yeah, that. 4.6 from 15 reviews Store these muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
