Banana, Bran, Molasses Muffins

   
I decided I wanted to make something healthy.  All this baking is wonderful, but I wanted to look for something I could feel happy about eating, not guilty.  I had a recipe for Bran Muffins, but that wasn't good enough. 

When we were in Bedford last week we went into a few antique stores.  One was particularly delightful and one of the reasons I love small towns.  They had antiques and a small restaurant.  They also sold some organic produce and had a Big Dog Rescue.  How can you beat all that in one store?  Well, you can't.  So I bought a few old things and a few very ripe bananas and decided to put them in the muffins.  I WAS going to use some Cheerios, too, but they had magically disappeared, so I will do a Cheerios thing later.

Banana, Bran, Molasses Muffins

1 1/2 cups All Bran cereal
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 or 3 mashed bananas, enough to make 1 cup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

a few Tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat the oven 400.  Spray a muffin tin with Pam.

This was a mix of several recipes, or I would let you know what I used.  A lot of the recipes used buttermilk for the milk.  Feel free to do that.  I didn't have any and only use it for baking so I wasn't going to buy some for 1/3 cup.

   

You have to soak the All Bran for a bit until it is mushy and can mix well.  All the recipes called for 1 cup milk and the ones that call for bananas use 1/3 cup milk.  So I put the All Bran in the bowl and covered it with the meager 1/3 cup milk. 

   

Not gonna work.  I added the egg and the molasses and swirled it around.  Now we're talking! 

   

So I added the oil and stirred with a fork.  I plopped the bananas right down on top and mushed them with the same fork.  Make sure you take off the strings and any brown spots, but very ripe is a plus.  I also take off the little black spot at the bottom of the banana as it is very bitter.

   

Add the brown sugar, baking powder, flour and salt.  Mix everything up.  Use a large scoop to fill the muffin tins.  Don't quite fill the scoop and you will have just enough for 12 muffins.

   

I know I was going for healthy, here.  You saw the bran, molasses and bananas, right?  So you can take a few Tablespoons of brown sugar and put them in a bowl.  Take a pinch and sprinkle it all over each of the muffins just before baking.

   

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes,  Mine was done at 20 minutes.  Let the pan cool a few minutes and then loosen the muffins and remove to a cooling rack.  Serve when just warm.  Remember that whole healthy thing?  Well, I cheated.  I put a small pat of butter on it and let the warmth get it all melty.

I realize I am not being consistent.  In order to make it even more healthy, I took half of the muffins to the library so that I can't eat them.  How healthy is that?