Banana Oat Muffins

Today I stayed home from school to get some work done and I ended up creating a cooking blog. Such is life!

Fresh from the oven today are Banana Oat Muffins.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com, but of course, added a few touches of my own.  Baking has always been a great stress reliever for me, and in the next few weeks while studying for finals, I plan on doing a lot!

Banana Oat Muffins

Makes 12 muffins   200 calories each

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Egg
3/4 cup Milk
1/3 Cup Canola Oil (or vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Mashed Bananas
1/4 Walnuts

Now,  if you know anything about baking, here is where most directions would tell you to add all the dry ingredients first and mix them and then the wet.  This is not a policy I typically follow.  Why? Because I have found that it really doesn't matter for simple baked goods like muffins.  Anyway, put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix EXCEPT the walnuts.  Once you see that all the dry ingredients have mixed into the wet, you're good to go.  Also, I ALWAYS mix by hand, never with a mixer.  I don't know why, but it seems more traditional and old-style to me and it's what my mom always did so it's what I always do.  I also feel like the baking process is more therapeutic and personal if you mix it by hand. I use a wooden spoon, preferentially, but you can use whatever you want to mix the batter, as long as you mix it thoroughly.

Also, you'll notice I put the calorie content for my recipes.  I will do this as often as possible because I think it's important to know what you're putting in your mouth.

Get out a 12-muffin pan. Mine is metal, as are most.  You can either coat the holes really well with cooking spray or use cupcake liners.  I chose to use liners.  Pour your batter into each whole, filling it about 3/4 of the way.  Now for the walnuts.  Put them in a small plastic baggy and crush them with a kitchen mallet, or use a food processor to break them up.  Now sprinkle the walnuts over the uncooked muffins.  Bake at 400deg for 18-20 min.

Baking

Cooling

The Finished Product:

Not exactly studying for my Genetics Lab Practical, but so much tastier. I'm going to go enjoy one of these, and I'm sure my fiance will enjoy more than one of these when he gets home tonight. Thanks for reading my first post, feel free to comment about the recipe, your experiences baking, or anything else that comes to mind.

Stay Hungry!