Today’s the day I finally decided to use that Ziploc baggy of three mashed ripe bananas that have been waiting patiently in the freezer next to my growing bag of Bell & Evans chicken livers.  A short tangent that has nothing to do with this recipe, if you’ll indulge me…

The livers I save until there’s enough – at least 10 ounces – to make a chopped liver paté.  Sadly, today’s whole chicken did not have the usual bag of gizzards which I fully expected to add to my collection.  There was a time when I’d be upset that they were there, since I had no need for them and resented paying for chicken parts that just went down the disposal.  But now that I’ve wised up about saving the livers, I called B&E to inquire.  Had a lovely chat with a woman in customer service who explained that at this time of year, with so many people needing chicken livers for something or other, they don’t always stuff them back into the birds, but package them for sale in tubs.  We shared a chuckle about this, and now I feel a bit better about getting my whole chicken’s worth of dinner for tonight.

Back to the bananas.  Several years ago I posted my banana bread recipe on the Epicurious website – Roni’s Banana Bread – and decided to modify that for some mega muffins.  The banana bread itself is huge, so I cut back volume by about 1/2 to satisfy the needs of 6 giant muffin tins.  High hopes here for…

 BIG BANANA NUT MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS (what I used plus suggestions for substitutions):

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or regular whole wheat flour)

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Rolled Oats, processed in blender to a flour texture (or any rolled oats, but not quick-cooking)

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill Shredded Unsweetened Coconut (optional)

3 large ripe bananas mashed

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sour cream (or plain yogurt)

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted briefly in microwave just to a liquid state (or use vegetable oil, walnut oil, or melted butter)

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

(or use 3/4 cup light brown sugar in lieu of two different sugars – I would have, but I was out of stock)

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350º and line muffin tins with parchment paper cups, or grease them.

In a medium bowl combine ingredients 1 though 8.  In another bowl whisk together remaining ingredients.  Combine wet and dry ingredients and fill muffin cups  – they’ll take about 2/3 cup of batter each.

Bake about 30 minutes, until toothpick or bamboo skewer comes out clean.  Cool on rack until your able to handle them and ease them out of the muffin tin to cool completely on the rack.  (If using paper liners, this can be done immediately).