My name is Wendy. I love to bake my stress away. I write over at Lessons Line upon Line.
When I was in graduate school, I managed my stress by baking. One of my specialties was banana bread. I never ate what I made though. I always gave it away. It seemed contradictory to me to eat my stress and hold onto it. I would bake mini loaves of banana bread and instead of coating the loaf pan with flour I would use cinnamon-sugar to caramelize the outside of the bread.
In my recipe book I have the measurements figured for a single, double, and triple. I make banana muffins for a day that we need a quick breakfast and can grab a bag out of the freezer and go. When I make a batch it is usually with 6-8 cups of bananas so that there can be a lot in the freezer. I use canning lid rings to be my muffin tins and can fit 23 muffins on a sheet cake pan.
Banana Bread
Source: Shaulan Morgan
Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 2/3 butter
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup mashed bananas
- 1/4 cup thick sour milk add 2 tsp vinegar cup and let stand
- 1 tsp vanilla I also had 1 tsp almond flavoring
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 cups flour
- 1 chocolate chips and/or nutsBulk Recipe:2 cups butter
- 4 1/2 cups sugar
- 6 eggs
- 3 cup mashed bananas
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3 tsp vanilla
- 3 tsp baking soda
- 9 cups flour
- 3 chocolate chips and/or nuts
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350.
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Grease pans with cinnamon/sugar mixture.
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Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix well.
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Slowly add flour and baking soda.
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Add banana and nuts/chocolate and mix well.
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Divide batter evenly between loaf pans.
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Bake for 35-40 minutes. For muffins it is about 25 minutes.
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NOTES: I've also added the blueberries instead of nuts and chocolate. As with any bread watch it until it is done. Every where is different because of elevation and humidity.
We then bag the muffins 16 to a bag in gallon freezer bags when cooled. We suck the air out so that ice crystals don’t form on the muffins and freezer burn. It is a great treat when you have to grab something quick and need to go or something to share with someone.
~ Wendy
More great muffin recipes from OSSS:
Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins
Skinny Pomegranate Pear Muffins
I love the idea of making them in bulk! It would come in soooo handy for those days you just need to grab something quick. Love it!
Thanks!
Thanks for sharing these! I’m excited to try this recipe; I’ve never found a banana bread/muffin recipe that I actually like. I’ve been thinking about freezing muffins but haven’t baked any yet. What do you use to suck the air out of your bags? emmillee(At)gmail(dot)com
Great question!
We seal up the bag leaving a 2 cm gap and then my Sweetheart acts as a vacuum and sucks the air out. Then we close it.
There are also vacuum sealers out in the world that you can purchase and control how much air gets sucked out so that muffins don’t get flattened to dough balls. I don’t own one that’s why I have my Sweetheart.
Awesome — I would never have thought of using jar rings as muffin cup holders. Great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Using jar rings — ingenious!
Ooh, what a great idea with the rings!!! I’ve never seen that before! You have the best ideas, Wendy!
What a great idea!
Oh I love making things in bulk to save time and energy – that lid idea is so awesome! These look delicious.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the lid idea!!! I’ve never had enough muffin tins on hand to bake everything at once. Now I won’t have to do them in shifts!!! 🙂
I have always wondered how to get more cupcakes/muffins baked in each batch. Brilliant tip on the canning rings!!
Yay! I’ve learned something new. I love the bulk idea. Thx!
Have you ever had an issue with them spilling or ending up wonky shapes? The muffin tins support the shape the entire height of the muffin, the canning lids only hold in the bottom third or so. I can just envision a “nailed it!” moment with a messy blob of blueberry muffins across my cookie sheet. Maybe I’ll get brave and give it a shot. 🙂
if worried about height of ring not being tall enough to support paper liner use two rings stacked. I can and have like a bazillion rings hanging around. Love the idea of using the rings wish I had known about this nifty time saver when I was baking 180 to 200 cupcakes for church bake sales.
I just found your site through a link to a link to a link and whalaa here you are. I have a daughter who cooks out of stress also, shes going to culinary school next year! I love this little tip I am definitely showing this post to my daughter, thank you!
Ha! Well, glad you found something useful!
do you know how i could modify this recipe to use sourdough starter?
I don’t. Sorry!
You are a genius. I love making banana muffins and never though to use canning lids.
Hi, just a couple of questions around the recipe. The butter at the top and the chocolate chips at the bottom don’t have a measurement unit. I presume both are cups? Also the milk is it 2 tsp vinegar to sour the 1/4 C milk? Thanks heaps for your help.
I feel bad, Lisa, but this post was written so long ago, the author doesn’t check in any more. You may be able to contact her through her blog, if she still maintains it. Good luck!
Hi what a great idea we are always looking for quick breakfast ideas on school mornings.. Was wondering if you knew the best way to heat them up after being in the freezer? Microwave, oven, how long? Thanks
Hi Kristin, this is actually an older post, so the author can only be reached through her blog, linked in the post. However, I’ve frozen muffins before, and I think it’s best to just let them thaw on the counter for a couple hours. Maybe pull them out the night before?