The Kitchen Sink Banana Muffin

What does one do with three past-their-prime, flaccid, and mealy bananas? These poor bananas came home from the grocery with youth and vigor and how did I reward them? By neglect! I shunned the bananas in favor of the peaches and apricots which are just starting to populate the stores in south Texas. I am, however, plagued with guilt. I scoured the internet for a recipe for a banana nut type of muffin. One which smacks of healthy, given how much chocolate I indulged in last week. I found something promising on epicurious.com and then, promptly added the kitchen sink to the recipe. This recipe is enormously forgiving. Don't have flax seed? No problem; leave it out. Want chocolate chips? Yum, these will only taste better. No sour cream? That's ok, maybe add an extra splash of milk to keep the muffins moist.

Banana Nut & Oat Muffins

Adapted from Bon Appetit, January 1991

makes 18 large muffins

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tablespoon ground flax seed

3/4 cup oats

1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup milk

1 & (1/2) tablespoons sour cream

2 whole eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 stick butter (melted)

3 ripe bananas, peeled, mashed

1 cup of nuts (any combination should work. I used hazlenuts and pecans)

To make:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin cups. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl: flours, flax, oats, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon. Whisk milk, sour cream, butter, eggs, and vanilla to blend in medium bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients, stirring until just combined. Stir in bananas and nuts. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted into centers of muffins comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.