Muffins!

Today is National Muffin Day, so in honor of it, I am once again sharing my favourite muffin recipe. It is a banana muffin recipe that I got from my friend Faith many, many years ago, and I use it all the time. I have it memorized, which was helpful when I was visiting friends and they wanted to make banana muffins to use up the "definitely ready to be bread or muffin" bananas!

I also use this recipe for many types of muffins: zucchini chocolate chip; strawberry; blueberry; ugly muffins (using frozen mixed berries, which give the muffins an interesting colour). Just use whatever fruit or berries you have on hand instead of bananas.

With no further ado, I present my banana muffin recipe:

3 bananas (well, 3-ish; if you have 4, by all means use all four, especially if they're small)

1 egg

1/3 cup oil

a small container of yogurt (the size you pack in lunches) or the rough equivalent*

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup flour

Mash up the bananas, add the egg, oil, yogurt, and sugar, and mix well. Add the baking soda and flour and mix just until everything is wet and mushy; do not over-mix.

Fill your muffin cups and bake at 350 for around 20 minutes or so minutes. You should get 12 muffins.

*The yogurt is optional. The original recipe didn't call for yogurt, but one day I was making muffins and discovered that I didn't have any eggs. I searched on-line for a solution and discovered that yogurt can replace eggs when making muffins, so I threw in a small container of vanilla yogurt. I liked the texture and now I add it all the time, even when I have eggs. The muffins are moister and the vanilla flavor is nice. You can leave out the yogurt or try different flavors.

Banana Muffins

Today is not insanely hot and I'm not working, a rare combination in the summer. I'm taking advantage of this mix to make muffins. I don't often cook in the summer because the oven heats up my apartment too much, so today is nice.

For your cooking pleasure, I present my banana muffin recipe:

3 bananas (well, 3-ish; if you have 4, by all means use all four, especially if they're small)
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
a small container of yogurt (the size you pack in lunches) or the rough equivalent*
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour

Mash up the bananas, add the egg, oil, yogurt, and sugar, and mix well. Add the baking soda and flour** and mix just until everything is wet and mushy; do not over-mix.

Fill your muffin cups and bake at 350 for around 30 minutes (maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more; it depends on your oven). You should get 12 muffins.

*About the yogurt: it's optional. The original recipe didn't call for yogurt, but one day I was making muffins and discovered that I didn't have any eggs. I searched on-line for a solution and discovered that yogurt can replace eggs when making muffins (although not for everything), so I threw in a small container of vanilla yogurt. I liked the texture, so now I add it all the time, even when I have eggs. The muffins are moister and the vanilla flavor is nice. You can leave out the yogurt or try different flavors.

**Okay, true baking confession time: I know I'm supposed to mix the dry ingredients separately and then add them. I don't. I add the baking soda and get it all mixed in, and then I add the flour. I see no reason to dirty another bowl for baking soda and flour.

This One's Really for Patty

I present to you: Monkey Bread

Start with:

1 tsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 pkg (1 tbsp) yeast

In a large bowl, disolve the sugar in water and sprinkle the yeast on top; let it stand for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile scald:

1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter

until the butter is melted; cool to luke warm. Mix the yeast briskly with a fork and add the milk/butter. To this add:

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
3 cups all-purpose flour

Beat well. Gradually add more flour (up to another 2 1/2 cups, but not necessarily that much) to make a soft dough. Knead it well and place it in a greased bowl, turning the bread to grease the top as well. Let the bread rise until doubled (about 1-1 1/2 hours).

Punch down the dough and roll it out to about 1/2" thickness. Cut it into 2" squares (more or less; it doesn't matter if it isn't perfect). Melt 1/2 cup butter and dip squares into the butter; arrange them in a 10" (4 L) tube pan. Cover and let it rise again until doubled (about 1 hour).

Cook at 375 for 45 minutes.

Rip pieces off and enjoy!