Banana Bran Muffins
This is the second time around for me and these bran muffins from Ina Garten. The first time I made them I followed the recipe exactly…well, I did leave out the orange zest. They were terrific. There wasn’t a real need to change anything. You will not be disappointed if you try the original recipe. Here is the link.
I had some blackened bananas that needed to be put to good use, and fast. So I decided to try them in these muffins instead of the firmer chopped banana I’d used the first time. Here are the other changes I made.
- Added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients
- Used skim milk (mixed with lemon juice) instead of buttermilk
- Used half whole wheat and half AP flour
- Used half golden raisins and half regular raisins
- Substituted pecans for the walnuts
- Used the orange zest
The result was yet another yummy bran muffin. They do not photograph well though, so I used this photo courtesy of foodtv.com. I liked the subtle flavor of the orange zest. I definitely like the pecans better than walnuts…but that’s just a personal preference. The texture was a bit heartier with the wheat flour. The skim milk might have made the texture or moistness of the muffins a bit different, but not to a degree that I really noticed. The combination of golden and regular raisins is nice, but not necessary. I had some extra golden ones left over, so I used them. I wouldn’t buy them just for these muffins as the plain raisins are great.
You can change a lot of things in these muffins to make them your own. I would not leave out the banana though since I am sure that gives some necessary moisture. Next time I might use cranberries instead of raisins. I think that would be nice with the orange flavor, which I might bump up more by using more zest and some orange juice. If you think of or try anything else, let me know. Enjoy!