Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins

Um, these are awesome. We had these grody bananas sitting on our counter for a while now and I had to do something with them. I had remember seeing this recipe on my friend Kim's blog, Kimmy's Kitchen, and knew that this is what I had to make with those bananas. I'm one of those people who tries to make every single bread into muffin form, so that's what I did. The recipe only makes 8 muffins, but I think that's just enough. I hate when I end up with over a dozen and they just end up going to waste. The bread is so moist and the cinnamon/sugar swirl works really well with the banana flavor. I can't wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow...if there are any left.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Muffins
Adapted from Kimmy's Kitchen

MAKES ABOUT 8 MUFFINS

Ingredients for bread:
2 over-ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
dash of salt

Ingredients for cinnamon/sugar swirl:
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbs cinnamon

Directions:
1. Mash your bananas. Add in the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla; stir to combine.
2. Add baking soda, flour, and salt; stir to combine.
3. Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl for the swirl.
4. Line your cupcake pan with liners. Scoop banana batter into the bottom of the cupcake liner, about 1/4 of the way up. Sprinkle a little of the cinnamon/sugar. Spoon another scoop of banana batter on top and sprinkle with more cinnamon/sugar.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Lindsay's Pumpkin Bread

Lindsay from You Are The Roots gave me this pumpkin bread recipe a few years ago and I've made it every Thanksgiving since. I'm well aware that it isn't Thanksgiving yet, but the other night our fridge and freezer were bare and I was scouring the cabinets for something to make for dinner. I didn't find anything dinner-worthy, but I did find a can of pumpkin and decided to make pumpkin bread. I am not a fan of pumpkin in any other way besides this bread. It's so moist and delicious and really simple to make. Everyone loves it (my sister was sitting there staring at it when it came out of the oven, she couldn't wait for me to cut into it). I really suggested trying it out, even when it isn't technically "pumpkin season".


Mix the pumpkin, eggs, oil, and cold water.


Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and all spice.


Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. I do it in 3 batches. This is where you'd add your walnuts if you want.

Pretend I wasn't so excited to just get it into the oven and that I took a picture of two greased loaf pans filled with the batter. Bake at 350 for 60 - 65 minutes.


I definitely over-filled these. If using the smaller disposable aluminum pans like I did, you should get 3 loaves. I did two and ended up having to bake them for [what felt like] 7 years. I also made them into muffins one year and ended up with 41 of them!

Lindsay's Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients:
1 15oz can pumpkin
4 eggs
1 cup oil
2/3 cup cold water
3 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon all spice
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil, and cold water.
3. Sift together dry ingredients.
4. Mix dry ingredients with pumpkin mixture. (Opt: add chopped walnuts if desired)
5. Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.
6. Bake at 350 for 60 - 65 minutes. (If using smaller loaf pans it will take about 10 - 15 mins less. Just keep checking.)