Banana Nut Muffins

Name: Banana Nut Muffins
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 19 min
Total time: 49 min
Yield: 18 muffins
Ingredients: 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 10 pieces (142g)); 3 ripe bananas (the riper/browner the better!, peels removed, well-mashed *); ½ cup sugar (100g); ½ cup light brown sugar (tightly packed (100g)); 2 large eggs (room temperature preferred); ¼ cup buttermilk (room temperature preferred (60ml)); 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract; 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g); 2 teaspoons cornstarch; 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 1/4 cups chopped pecans or walnuts (divided); sugar for sprinkling (optional)

October 24, 2018 By Sam 26 Comments

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Banana Nut Muffins that are better than anything you can buy at the bakery! Made with browned butter, these are truly gourmet.

Since my banana muffins have been so popular and have received so many 5 star ratings (thank you!) I thought I’d do an extra special version with nuts and browned butter. I really think you’re going to love these!

One day I’m sure I’ll run out of things to say about muffins. I’ve shared so many muffin recipes (remember my pumpkin muffins from earlier this month?) that it’s bound to happen.

Some of you might even be glad when that happens. When a muffin recipe pops in your inbox with just a thumbs-up emoji and the recipe and none of my rambling.

But today is not that day. Today, I want to talk to you about banana nut muffins. I need to let you know that these muffins are worth your time. They’re stop what you’re doing right now good. Soft, moist, oh-so-fluffy interiors topped off with crackly, crisp, well-sugared tops and punctuated with crunchy nuts. The. most. divine vanilla-accented buttery/banana flavor in every melt-in-your-mouth bite.

These banana nut muffins are muffin heaven, and it all starts with one key ingredient.

Brown Butter.

Why Use Browned Butter

Brown butter is baking gold. It’s simply butter that’s been heated long enough to cook out the water and turn the milk solids brown. This results in a kitchen with a buttery, cozy, and slightly nutty aroma that’s better than any scent Yankee Candle could ever lay claim too. But most importantly, it’s going to add a deep, rich flavor to your banana nut muffins.

With most of my muffin recipes, I prefer to use a blend of butter and oil. While the butter lends a great flavor to baked goods, the water content has the tendency to make your baked good come out drier (ironically)and denser than I like. To combat this, I often use a blend of butter (for flavor) and oil, which contains no water, for a moist, fluffy baked good.

But, since we’re cooking out that water, we can use all butter and no oil for a banana nut muffin with a truly incredible flavor. I mean, truly incredible. Oh, and it’s also more formally known by its French name, buerre noisette, and if that isn’t just the fanciest sounding ingredient I’ve ever cooked with then I don’t even know what is.

OK, I think I’m done nerding out about browned butter for the day, thanks for bearing with me. Let’s continue.

Tips for Making Banana Nut Muffins

Don’t take your eyes off the butter while you’re browning it! Browned butter can become burnt butter really fast if you don’t pay attention, and if it becomes even a little burnt the taste changes from magical to awful. Burnt butter will ruin your banana nut muffins so you’ll have to toss it and start over. Don’t let this happen.
Cook the banana nut muffins on 2 temperatures (as indicated in the recipe). I use this technique in my chocolate chip muffins and my blueberry muffins, among others. It helps the muffins to get a nice rise on them and gives them soft fluffy interiors without burnt or tough exteriors.
My preferred nuts for Banana nut muffins are pecans, but walnuts or really any nut you like best will work just fine!

Enjoy!

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