I refuse to be intimidated!
Fresh fruits and vegetables are very challenging. They frustrate me. The problem is that I go into the store (or, more recently, the Klesick’s order form) and I want to buy everything. The colors! The smells! The appeal of making something healthy and delicious! The thunder sound effect in the produce section! It’s all just so enticing. Once I get the haul home, however, I have a much harder time keeping up the motivation or, at least, timing said motivation with the optimal ripeness of the food. I say this not only to enlighten those of you who somehow still think I have my shit together, but to demonstrate why I love banana bread and, more specifically, banana bread muffins so much.
You see, banana bread is magic because you can’t make it until the fruit has gone “bad.” You can look at the bananas that you somehow forgot to eat despite them sitting right there on the counter and say, “It’s okay. I meant to do that. Now I can make banana bread!” and pat yourself on the back for being so resourceful. While I do love a good banana bread, I find that I have a very hard time making one that isn’t a little gloppy in the middle, which isn’t very appealing. Making muffins seems to resolve this issue, with the added benefit of being a more “grab and go” option. This is the recipe that I have been using most recently, and I love how simple it is. I had to make a double batch this week when I discovered that my bananas were not only brown but separating from their stems – crying out to be turned into bread – and it still took almost no time at all.
So, next time you find yourself with some browning (or very brown) bananas, give yourself credit for your patience and whip up a batch of banana bread muffins. Then congratulate yourself for refusing to be bullied by fruit, at least for the time being.
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