Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Best Banana Bread Muffins Ever {Without Dirtying a Single Dish}


I don't know how to explain to you how amazingly perfect this banana bread is. It's moist. It's sweet. The texture is flawless. It's quick. It's easy. And guess what the best part of all is. 

IT DOESN'T DIRTY A SINGLE DISH.

Sorry for the caps. I just... really hate dishes.


I haven't always had this perfect recipe. You see, it's my grandma's creation, perfected over decades. Only problem is, Grandma doesn't believe in measuring cups. 

I think we must be related. 

Whenever I called her for the recipe, she would say stuff like, "Add flour until it looks about like the consistency of ketchup, or maybe a little thinner."

Well, that's all fine and good if you know what "ketchup or maybe a little thinner" looks like, and I can't blame her because if I didn't force myself to write down measurements every recipe on this blog would look like that. But...


I want my banana bread to be EXACTLY like Grandma's. 

So, one day, I went to Grandma's house, got out her recipe, and made her sit down and translate it with me. 

"I guess I usually use 3 bananas so you can cross out that 1 1/2 cups"

"Well, this says 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, but of course I add at least a teaspoon."

"Oh, I usually do about 1 cup of flour unless my bananas are extra big."

And now... the secret of the of the most perfect banana bread in all the land is MINE.


To make this banana bread even more perfect, I make it in a big plastic bag so I don't have to dirty a single dish or a spoon. The only things you have to dirty are one measuring cup and one measuring spoon. 

And if you're Grandma, you wouldn't have to dirty anything.


You can then snip the corner of the bag and squirt it right into the pan. Grandma and I sometimes use this pan which we both have which is a very non-standard 10 1/4 x 3 5/8 x 2 5/8  inches. If you happen to have this pan too, it takes about 45 minutes to bake. Grandma also lines it with tin foil so you don't have to clean the pan!


Sorry about this picture. Boots was the hand model and as you may or may not know, 8-year-old boys have a hard time holding still long enough for you to get a chance to focus the camera.
The Best Banana Bread Muffins Ever
Makes about a dozen muffins

3 brown bananas (1 cup mashed)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour*
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
 1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze (optional):
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk or lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Get out a 1/2 measuring cup and a 1/4 teaspoon (these will be all you need to measure your ingredients).
In a large Ziploc bag, mash the bananas. Add the eggs, seal the bag, and shake and squish until combined. Add the sugar and mix well. Dump in the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Before zipping and mixing them all the way in, mix them together a little with your measuring spoon. Now add the oil** and vanilla and shake and squish until well combined.
Snip the corner of the bag and squirt the batter into a lined muffin tin (if you don't want to clean the pan, line it with tin liners so the grease doesn't come through). Don't make the hole very big at all because the batter is very runny. Pinch the corner between each muffin.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
To make the glaze, just mix together the powdered sugar and milk or lemon juice and spread over cooled muffins.
*Can't have flour? Check out the gluten free recipe here.
**I know it's not standard to add the oil last, but that's the only way I can use the same measuring cup since all the other ingredients you have to measure are dry. It works anyways.


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13 comments:

  1. It looks easy ! And I have a question .. Can i use apple instead of banana ? because i don't like banana :(

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    1. I bet you could use apple sauce! :-)

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  2. I don't think you would be able to use apple, because apples don't smash up like bananas and they contain more liquid. You could probably use breadfruit instead though since it is similar.

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  3. Made these this morning. Perfect recipe for a non-baker like me!

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  4. Will puréed pumpkin work as well? I want to make these tonight for Halloween :)

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  5. I made these today and they were delish! I almost didn't get to try one since my husband and daughter kept sneaking them. I used milk and added a drop of almond extract in the glaze since I didn't have any lemon and it was really tasty. Thanks for the easy recipe!

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  6. I only have two small ripe bananas but I'm going to try this recipe anyway! Sounds delicious and only two dirty dishes is my type of recipe :o)

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  7. Used this recipe to rid my brown bananas. I love it as well as my husband! I added about a cup of crushed walnuts and substituted the frosting for honey. I saved this recipe for all my future banana bread cravings. Be sure to thank your grandma on my behalf!

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  8. Ohhhh my gosh I made these this morning for my 4 sons and they devoured them (and so did I) :))) sooo yummy and moist!!!

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  9. My six year old enjoyed making these. We opted to use coconut oil instead of veg oil and left off the icing all together. They were great... AND MY GIRLS HAVE NEVER LIKED BANANA BRAG. This was moist, nice flavor. Thanks.

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  10. I made these last night and they are SO good. Even my husband, who *really* doesn't like banana, said they were good and had two! I have to admit that I was naughty and instead of doing the icing, I made a frosting of peanut butter and Nutella blended together (chocolate+nut butter+banana = yum). The banana muffins-turned-cupcakes were sinful and absolutely divine. Thank you for sharing this simple and delicious recipe.

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  11. Hey Yammie, I am Beth's mom, and the recipe was so much fun ~ not using dishes and playing with the squish in the bag! Totally kid filled fun...and on a serious note! This is by far the best banana bread recipe ever! Love your blog, you have my kind of humour! Great work! xxx

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  12. My daughter and I made these this morning. Super easy and some of the best muffins I've ever made. Thank you! We made the glaze with lemon juice. A little watery but tasty.

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