Hummingbird Muffins

After taking a week off of muffin Tuesday, the tradition lived on this week and the chosen muffin was Hummingbird muffins!  I love making these because they have so many different flavors and are very different than the other varieties that I make.  The recipe is adapted from an annies-eats post for Hummingbird Coffee Cake (http://www.annies-eats.com/2012/05/10/hummingbird-coffee-cake/), and I only made a few changes.  I chose to adapt it from a coffee cake into muffins so that I could control how much I actually made since I have no use for an entire coffee cake in my apartment!

Since the original recipe said it makes 16 servings, I quartered it and made 4 muffins.  The only other changes that I made were to use unsweetened applesauce instead of butter to make it a bit healthier, non-fat greek yogurt instead of low fat, and I omitted the glaze and opted to put the chopped pecans in the muffins instead.  Since it is in muffin form and not a cake, the timing in the oven was more experimental because I knew it would not need the 50 minutes that the cake needed, and it ended up taking about 20 minutes.

This is really one of my favorite muffins that I make.  I love the combination of banana, shredded coconut, chopped pecans, fresh pineapple and cinnamon, and even though it may seem like a lot of ingredients, the flavors work great together.  The muffin actually has a sort of buttery taste to it, which is amazing because there is absolutely no butter in them.  This variety is a lot more unique than the classic banana, blueberry or chocolate chip, and it is even more delicious!  When making these, you can choose to follow the original recipe a bit closer and include butter and the glaze, but I honestly don't think that you need to because they are great this way and a lot healthier!

Petite Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Loaves

In my opinion, the best bread/muffin combination is banana and chocolate chip.  Banana bread is good on its own, but once you add chocolate chips it makes it that much better.  In January when I started my Muffin Tuesday tradition, I made a list of all the recipes I wanted to try, but the one staple missing was a healthy banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.  I had seen a recipe on Skinnytaste for Petite Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Loaves, but I did not have a mini loaf pan and for some reason it didn't seem like it would be as good to me if I adapted the recipe for muffins.  So, after a few months passed and my sister kept looking at the recipe, she finally decided to cave in and buy a mini loaf  pan.  Once the pan arrived in the mail, I immediately made the loaves. 

What is great about these is that they are bigger than muffins, but the same amount of points on weight watchers (5)!  I halved the recipe (though my sister wishes I would've made eight) and pretty much made no other changes.  The recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/petite-chocolate-chip-banana-bread.html) has a lot of banana, flour, baking soda, salt, egg white, applesauce, vanilla, a little bit of butter, and chocolate chips.  I upped the amount of chocolate chips to 1 oz because it was the same amount of points when I put in the recipe to weight watchers, and who doesn't love more chocolate!  

When you put the batter into the pan, you can tell right away how big these are going to be!  They go into the oven at 325 degrees for 40 minutes, which is a bit torturous to wait for.  What makes it even harder is that the whole kitchen (and if you live in NYC, the whole apartment!) starts to smell like banana bread.  

These come out of the oven looking like perfect little banana bread loaves!  It looks even better than a muffin because you get your own personal loaf, and, lets be honest, who doesn't want their own banana bread!  These have such a strong banana flavor because that is the prominent ingredient, which is what I love.  The chocolate chips do not overwhelm the banana flavor because there are not many chocolate chips in the recipe, but you appreciate it more when you reach a chocolatey bite.

If you are a banana and/or chocolate lover, you should give this recipe a try.  You can play around with it and switch out the chocolate chips for nuts, or simply just make them as banana bread, though I do recommend keeping the chocolate chips.  They are really delicious and bigger than muffins, so they are more filling too!

Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins

I have been counting down the days until I got to make this muffin again, because it is one of my ultimate favorites.  I never used to be a huge Nutella lover, but now I really don't know why!  It is SO good and I could probably eat it on anything.  When I was looking at different muffin recipes on Pinterest a few months ago, I found this gem: Nutella Banana Swirl Muffins (http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/01/nutella-banana-swirl-muffins/).  I love banana and I love Nutella, so to me this seemed like a no brainer!

From the recipe, I only made a few slight changes.  Instead of using vegetable oil, I used unsweetened applesauce, I omitted the chopped pecans, and I used an egg white instead of an egg (since I had to quarter the recipe, it was too difficult to use a quarter of an egg, and it was much easier to measure out the equivalent in egg whites).

After I made these for the first time, I knew that they would be on the remake list.  While the top of the muffin with the Nutella swirl was the star, the banana muffin on the bottom was still delicious.  I waited for the banana to get very ripe before baking it, so the banana flavor really came through.  When they first come out of the oven, the Nutella has a crunchy shell around it but is so soft and melty on the inside.  If you have any leftover after the first day like I always do, the Nutella on top loses the crunchiness and becomes soft, but it is still extremely delicious.  You can choose to eat these any way that you like, but I recommend eating the bottom part of the muffin and then saving the top for last!  The combination of the Nutella with the banana is spot on, and it really raises the bar from the classic banana chocolate chip combination.

Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Today, I woke up excited for muffin Tuesday because I got to make one of my favorites: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal.  This muffin is from a recipe I found on Annies Eats (http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/05/17/peanut-butter-banana-oatmeal-muffins/), and I ended up quartering the recipe because the original makes 18 muffins.

I originally found this recipe on Pinterest and immediately repinned it because it has everything I love in it: peanut butter, banana, oats and brown sugar!  My first time making it, I was pleasantly surprised as to how moist and fluffy the muffin was.  Since I make them Tuesday mornings, I usually measure out the dry ingredients the night before and put them in a Ziploc bag so that there is one less step that I have to do in the morning.  My first time making these, however, I made the mistake of pre-measuring out the brown sugar and forgot that it would harden when exposed to the air like that.  So, that first batch had chunks of brown sugar (which actually was a delicious accident).  After making it through my rotation of muffin varieties, I was back to the beginning and made these again, this time holding off on measuring the brown sugar until the morning.  Having now made them correctly, I enjoyed the muffin that much more.  This morning was my third time making them, which is a testament to how much I like them.

The taste of peanut butter really comes through in the muffin, and the oats add a nice texture to them, while the brown sugar adds a hint of sweetness, as does the banana.  I do admit that the taste of banana is not as prominent since peanut butter has a stronger taste, but I love peanut butter so I don't mind.  Since my sister and I tend to have opposing tastes in muffins (we really can only agree on the fact that any muffin that has chocolate in it is our favorite), she has a different view of these.  Whereas I put the blueberry muffins last on my list and she puts them on the top, I put these towards the top of my list and she puts them at the bottom.  She still eats them and says that they are good, she just doesn't like them as much as some other varieties.  This could be due to the fact that she is not a huge peanut butter lover, so you really have to like peanut butter if you are going to like these.  

Regardless, this muffin variety will remain a staple on my rotation!  

Peanut Butter and Sliced Banana on a Toasted English Muffin

One of my favorite breakfasts that I like to start my week off with is my Peanut Butter & Banana English Muffin Sandwich.  It is probably because I love peanut butter and banana so much, but it is such a satisfying way to start the morning!  To make it, I use a Thomas' Light Multigrain English Muffin, 1 tbsp of Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Peanut Butter (which as I mentioned in a previous post, is my all time favorite peanut butter) and 1/2 of a sliced, ripe banana.  Thomas' is a trusted brand of choice for the english muffin, and I especially like the light multigrain one because it is only 100 calories, has 32% daily value of fiber, and is really tasty!

I usually leave the english muffin in the toaster for about 2 and a half minutes, which in my toaster oven  is enough time for it to get warm and fluffy on the inside, with a slight crunch on the outside.  Then, I wait about 30 seconds for it to slightly cool off before I add the tablespoon of peanut butter.  And finally, I top it with sliced banana.  

Since I add the peanut butter while the english muffin is still warm, it gets very melty which makes the peanut butter have an even stronger and more delicious taste.  The banana on top just adds a nice finishing touch to this dish and brings all the flavors together.  I usually end up having this for breakfast every Monday as it is a great way to start off the week!  

If you are like me and like to vary your breakfast options, I would definitely recommend adding this to your rotation!

Peanut Butter, Banana and Jelly Panini

One of my favorite lunches that I usually treat myself to about once a week is a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich, with banana.  To elevate it even more, I put it on the panini press for a few minutes so that the peanut butter gets all melty and delicious.  I make it with 2 slices of Weight Watchers Whole Wheat Bread, 1 tbsp of Skippy Roasted Honey Nut Creamy Peanut Butter (the BEST peanut butter in my opinion), 1/2 of a banana, and 1/2 tbsp of this amazing Cherrycot Jam that I get at the farmers market in the city.  Even though it may sound like the quantities are small, they are more than enough once you start to spread it on the bread.

I am a huge peanut butter fan so this sandwich is one of my all time favorites.  It feels like a treat, but it really is not too unhealthy since I measure out the quantities and don't allow myself to go overboard with the amount of peanut butter, since it is pretty fattening.  Adding the banana and putting it on the panini press are essential for me because it really brings out the flavors of each component, and makes it more of an adult version of the classic PB&J