The Famous Banana Muffins

By famous I mean that I love them and that I almost always have a batch around the house. I mention these banana muffins in my about me section on Twitter and on here. This recipe is from Rick Gallop's GI Diet book, I have only been able to find the recipe in this specific publication, and I should mention that they muffins are originally called Over The Top Muffins With Pear.

Here is the recipe, I will also add in my modifications...

1 cup All Bran or 100% bran cereal (I have only ever used All Bran Buds, I can't explain why)

1 cup wheat bran

1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt (sometimes I use vanilla yogurt if I don't have any plain yogurt)

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup brown sugar substitute (regular brown sugar works well too)

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda 

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup skim milk

1/4 cup canola oil (more often than not I just use unsweetened applesauce)

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 pears, cored and diced (I, of course, use 1-2 mashed bananas instead)

*additions - I put in a few tsp of cinnamon into the the dry mixture because I love cinnamon and today I decided that I wanted to have chocolate chips in my muffins!

1. Combine the cereal and wheat bran in a bowl. Stir in the yogurt and let stand for 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar substitute, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (and cinnamon if you want it).

3. Add the skim milk, oil (or applesauce), egg, and vanilla to the bran mixture and stir to combine. Pour over the flour mixture and stir in until just combined. Stir in pear (or banana and chocolate chips if your heart so desires).

4. Preheat the oven to 375F. Divide the batter among 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups. Bake until the tops are golden and firm to the touch, about 25 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and let cool completely.   

Here are the famous muffins right out of the oven! I always find it SO hard to not eat one the minute they come out of the oven. Sometimes I have to take them out of the oven and then go read a book because I know I want one, but at the same time I know they are too hot...I would know I have eaten one straight out of the oven before, *ouch*.

All cooled and ready to eat, YUM!!! I have experimented with a lot of muffin recipes and this is the one I always come back to. The others have been yummy, don't get me wrong, but I just love these ones the most. If you give them a try let me know what you think!


Running Stuff - I just wanted to let you guys know that I added a Daily Mile widget on the left so you can see how my running and other such exercising has been going if I do not post about it. I don't always mention how far I ran or how I felt because it just doesn't come up, SO now you can see for yourself if you are interested.


I am off to edit my final report for writing class and then I am done with that class until the second installment starts in June! YAY!! My schooling is kind of different because I started in January, so I won't be done until the end of the first week of July, but then I still get to graduate in April of 2011 so I cannot complain! 


Time to put on my editing cap! Have a great day and enjoy the sun!


Happy Running!