Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Spiced Apple Cider and Banana Muffins

Want a yummy, healthy muffin?  Here you go.

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We have some apple cider and I have lots of very ripe bananas, but what really got me with these is that they are pretty healthy and I was able to use some yogurt that I have and need to use.  I changed up quite a bit a recipe that I found at the Eating Well website.  The recipe called for apple butter, but I used banana and I cut a little bit of the oil in the recipe.  You can get the recipe from Eating Well on their link.  But here's my muffins.

Spiced Apple Cider and Banana Muffins, by Katrina Smith, adapted from Eating Well, Winter 2004

Streusel:

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon butter, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts

Muffins:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1 large egg

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup very ripe banana, mashed (2 small bananas)

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1/3 cup spiced apple cider

1/3 cup nonfat Greek Yogurt

2 overflowing tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray with cooking spray.  I made 11 regular muffins and 12 mini muffins and lined them with paper liners. 

In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients.  Mix the butter in with your fingers until well combined. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and brown sugar until smooth.  Then whisk in the bananas, syrup, apple cider, yogurt and oil.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry with a rubber spatula just until combined.  Scoop the batter into the muffin cups.  Sprinkle with the streusel (I only put streusel on the 11 bigger muffins.)

Bake the mini muffins for 10 minutes and the larger ones for 14 minutes.  Cool in muffin pan for a few minutes.  Then remove from pan and let cool on a wire rack.

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Have some hot apple cider with one of these!  I made Wassail from this recipe at Allrecipes.  I only made half the recipe.  Love the smell of it brewing on the stove!

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Sam's new favorite pasttime---

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Completely dismantling the couch downstairs and then sitting and watching Max and Ruby or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  It isn't very fun to put back together, almost like a puzzle, but doggonit, he's CUTE!

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He's so proud of his accomplishment!

Then there's Bob.  Our friend, Bob.  He's pretty proud here, too, after all, he's got Hostess Sno Ball BOB Cakes named after him! ;)

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16 comments:

Donna-FFW said...

Those muffins sound heavenly made with fresh apple cider, bananas, yogurt, how delicious.

noble pig said...

Oh geez, I remember when my boys would take apart the couch! Love the cider muffins too, perfect for November.

Megan said...

How creative you are with the muffins! But.... where's the chocolate?

Clumbsy Cookie said...

How Katrina, that'a big couch you have there!!! Sam is looking cuter by the day, by the way! So funny how I feel I know him ahahah! Love the muffins, anything with strussel prety much wins me...

Chrissy said...

Mmmmmmmmm. I seriously need a drool bib when I look at your blog

Chocolaty Lifestyle said...

Bananas + apple cider? That must be excellent! :)

CookiePie said...

Those muffins sound amazing!!! Love the idea of adding apple cider. And I love your little boy on all the couch cushions!!!

Barbara Bakes said...

This recipe sounds easy and delicious! Love that it's healthy.

Valerie said...

I gave you a blog award at the end of my post today if you'd like to check it out sometime.

Have a fun weekend.

Deborah said...

Funny - I was just thinking about how much I'd like a muffin right now, although I should be thinking about dinner!

Rylan @ Art and Appetite said...

I've never had those type of muffins but they do sound sooo good.

Thanks for sharing, love the pictures.

Kitchen Butterfly said...

Oh yes...I remember the 'all cushions on the floor' stage at our house...still happens

Bunny said...

They look so moist! I have to try these! When my daughter was little she would take everything out of every drawer in her dresser...every day UGH!!

Anne Strawberry said...

The muffins look great but I'm dying over the couch. That's my son's new favorite thing to do and it makes me CRAZY!

Thanks for emailing me that pumpkin recipe, by the way- I just found it (stuck in my spam filter, bah!) I can't wait to try it!

Flourchild said...

Great looking muffins! I love all the ingredients too! It looks like your son was having fun with the coach and those Blobby things you eat were a hit with my son too!

Stephen said...

This recipe is great. I had two ripe bannanas, two apples and cider hanging around. Well a Google search led right to this recipe. Perfect for this cold December morning. I added the two apples diced up. Thank You