Banana Crunch Muffins

It's Father's Day! A happy and relaxing day to all the dad's out there, heres to my crazy for bananas, can't say no to a muffin, Dad!  Among the cookbooks I got for my birthday was the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten.  If you don't know her, shame on you, you should.  She has a lovely tv show on the Food Network, Barefoot Contessa, Back to Basics and several cookbooks - all of which are wonderful. 
I woke up way too early this past Saturday and decided to crack open the above cookbook. What's better Saturday morning than freshly baked anything, not to mention Banana Crunch Muffins?! Needless to say, my SH wasn't far behind me once I put the first batch in the oven.
We buy bananas every week so, they aren't hard to come by in this house, but...the real trick is getting them ripe enough for bread concoctions.  Since we buy bananas so often, we occasionally have one or two left by the end of the week that start to look a little sad.  I toss them into the freezer and I'm sure to always have a few on hand to make some banana something-or-other.  So don't worry if your bananas look like this...

that's perfect! You need three bananas at two different ripeness' for this recipe. The one on the far left is from the current week bananas (for the chopped banana) and the two on the right are slowly defrosting from our freezer (for the mashed banana).  These are the perfect consistency for mashing.  You don't need anything fancy to mash your bananas, simply use a potato masher.  Start working on the flour mixture, I have to recommend King Arthur brand flour. So far, I've found that it's really the best for scones and homemade breads.  Here's the great thing about this recipe, it's so easy! Sifting the flour can easily be done by adding all of the dry ingredients and mixing gently with a wire wisk, fold the dry ingredients over itself and everything will mix just fine.  Don't have a paddle attachment to a stand mixer...don't have a stand mixer? Not to worry, you can easily do the mixing for this recipe by hand. 
I used my own homemade granola for this recipe but if you have a favorite box brand, use it! 

You can see here my preferred storage for dry ingredients I use all the time [granola, coconut, flour, sugar, etc.] while I love the transparent containers, I think I'll go with glass when these need to be replaced, they have lost their luster with a few scratches here  and tend to retain smell a bit.  As discussed in the Lemondrop Cupcake entry, I have been looking for new ways to dispense my batter into cupcake/muffin pans.  I found a winner:

This is an Oxo Good Grips Ice Cream Scoop and it's perfect for thick and regular batters.  It's improving my speed with filling the cups and keeping messed to a minimum. Sortive. I did use the back of a spoon to evenly distribute the batter, but don't spend too much time on this, it's just to make sure your muffins have a nice rounded top.  Don't forget the spatula too, you'll want to scrap the sides of your bowl [gently] to get as many muffins as possible!

I filled the cups almost completely full, just like Ina told me to, and the results were great! Nice big tops, which I think are SH's favorite, with plenty of room for the coconut and granola topping to go as the batter expands during cooking.  I left out the banana chips only because I didn't have them on hand, although, I think it would've added too much crunch for our liking.  I always suggest that you set the time for at least [5] minutes less than what the recipe calls for, you can always stick them back in if the toothpick doesn't come out clean but you can't undo a burnt muffin! I believe mine only took 20 minutes, although I didn't make a note in my cookbook, oops!

We really enjoyed these muffins right out of the oven, but they kept for several days in an airtight container - cool completely before storing.  We had so many that I/we shared with friends and co-workers alike, they were well received.  Next time you're going to have a brunch, overnight company or a saturday morning! consider making these, you won't be disappointed.

I've been maximizing on my birthday presents recently, trying them out for various things.  This cupcake tree really does well with both dainty cupcakes and serious muffins! Not to mention a great facility for photographing my creations.  You haven't seen the last of this kitchen accessory. Enjoy!