Looking for a good banana muffin that tastes great and is healthy, too? Give this recipe a whirl. My kids loved them…so did I! The struesel topping elevates them from plain ol’ banana muffin to something special.

I didn’t have plain yogurt for the recipe so I used 1/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup buttermilk. The muffins make a great breakfast treat or after-school snack. Enjoy!

Banana Oatbran Muffins
-adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe

Moist, tender, and banana-y, these muffins represent comfort food at its best.

Batter
1/2 cup yogurt (I used 1/4 cup buttermilk & 1/4 cup sour cream)
1 large egg
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups mashed banana; 2 to 3 large bananas
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup oat bran
1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Topping
¼ cup brown sugar
1/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon soft butter

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a standard muffin tin, or line with papers and grease the papers. 
 
Combine the yogurt, egg, oil, mashed banana, sugar, and oat bran in a bowl. Whisk together and set aside for 10 minutes. 
 
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg. 
 
Work the topping ingredients together until the mixture is crumbly. 
 
Whisk the banana mixture into the flour mixture. Scoop into the prepared muffin cups, filling them almost full; the muffins won’t rise much. 
 
Sprinkle muffins with the topping. 
 
Bake the muffins for 20 to 24 minutes, until the muffins are set and browned. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and enjoy warm.
 
 

Tags: banana muffins, Breakfast, brown sugar, nutmeg, oatbran, rolled oats

To me, fresh apple cake is the epitome of autumn! A friend gave me a bag of apples from her backyard tree recently so, of course, I had to find something new and delicious to make with them. What I settled on was this recipe for Old-Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting. It’s moist, delicious, super easy to make and loaded with appley goodness. 

I made a few slight changes to the recipe but nothing drastic. For the cake, I decreased the sugar from 2 cups to 1-1/2 cups, which was perfect because the brown sugar frosting adds sweetness, too. Also, I substituted 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon allspice for the 1-1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice, and added a splash of vanilla to the cake batter. I chose not to use nuts, although chopped pecans would be a good addition. I thought the cake was actually better the day after it was made so I encourage you to make it a day before you plan to serve it. Enjoy!

 Old-Fashioned Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting 
-recipe from King Arthur Flour

This cake is an old, old favorite of ours. It’s a cake where the whole is definitely more than the sum of the parts. The moist, semi-chunky cake, spread with the frosting equivalent of brown sugar fudge, is perfect served with a cup of coffee or, better still, a glass of ice-cold milk.

Cake
2 1/3 cups (9 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups (14 ounces) granulated sugar (I used 1-1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons apple pie spice (I used 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. allspice)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) vegetable shortening (trans-fat free)
4 cups (12 ounces) peeled, chopped apples (about 1 pound before peeling)
1 cup (4 ounces) walnuts, chopped

Brown Sugar Frosting
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) milk
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan.

Mix all of the ingredients except the apples and walnuts in a large bowl. Beat until well combined; the mixture will be crumbly. Add the apples and walnuts, and mix until the apples release some of their juice and the crumbly mixture becomes a thick batter, somewhere between cookie dough and brownie batter in consistency.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing it with your wet fingers. Bake the cake for 45 minutes, or until the cake tests done. Remove from the oven and place on a rack, to cool completely; don’t remove the cake from pan. When the cake is completely cool, frost with Brown Sugar Frosting.

Frosting: Melt the butter in a small pan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts. Add the milk, bring to a boil, and pour into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. Beat well; if the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar. Spread on the cake while frosting is still warm.

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Tags: allspice, autumn, Baking, brown sugar frosting, cake, cinnamon, Dessert, fall, fresh apple cake, nutmeg, potluck

These moist, spice-flavored muffins are a cinch to whip up and make a nice breakfast treat or after-school snack. I love the muffin’s light nutmeg flavor and simple, old-fashioned goodness. Yumm!

I didn’t have fresh nutmeg so I used regular ol’ jarred ground nutmeg. Enjoy!

Applesauce Spice Muffins
-recipe from Gourmet Magazine, November 2003

Yield: Makes 12 muffins

For muffins:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup pecans or walnuts (3 1/2 ounces), coarsely chopped

For topping:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Special equipment: a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) muffin cups

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin pan.

Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together eggs and brown sugar in a large bowl until combined well, then add butter, a little at a time, whisking until mixture is creamy. Stir in applesauce, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Stir in nuts and divide batter among muffin cups.

Stir together all topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake until muffins are puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes, then remove muffins from pan and cool slightly.

Cooks’ note: Muffins, cooled completely, keep in an airtight container at room temperature 1 day.

Tags: allspice, applesauce, cinnamon, Muffins, nutmeg, pecans, spice