Whole Wheat Banana-Walnut Muffins

Tucked away in the back of King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking is a real gem of a recipe: Easy Banana-Walnut Bread.  It has become my go-to banana bread recipe.  It is so easy to make I wonder how I manage to let any bananas go to waste!

I was looking for a little change of pace, so I decided to try using the recipe to make muffins.  It worked great!  I love muffins because they are easy to freeze for quick breakfasts or snacks.  This recipe yielded 6 regular-sized muffins and 16 mini muffins.  It would probably make at least a dozen regular muffins.

Banana-Walnut Muffins

Print Recipe

• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1½ cups (12 oz.) mashed ripe banana (approx. 3 medium-large bananas)
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (traditional or white whole wheat)
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Lightly grease a muffin pan, or line with muffin cups.

Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla until smooth.  Add the banana, honey, and eggs, beating until smooth.  Add the flour and nuts.  Stir until smooth.  Spoon batter into the prepared muffin pan.

Bake the muffins until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 23 – 28 minutes (less if making mini muffins).  Remove from the oven and let rest on a rack for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and cool.

To make banana bread:  Spoon the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan.  Let rest for 10 minutes.  Bake for 50 minutes.  Gently lay a piece of foil across the top and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.