Whole Wheat Banana-Nut Muffins

I've been in the kitchen! A lot lately, actually. I have a few recipes to blog about, I just haven't had the ambition to sit down and write. I made these muffins a couple of weeks ago to share with my coworkers. I was going to make mini-muffins out of them, but it would have taken forever, so I went with normal-sized. Now, I know that these weren't on my fall baking agenda, but I had ripe bananas to use up. They turned out to be pretty perfect, and the recipe is really simple!

In other news, I visited Howl-o-Scream last weekend. I went with a couple of friends from work and we made a day of it. During the daytime, we rode all of the roller coasters and caught a couple of shows. We even stayed after dark, when the scare-actors come out and the haunted houses open. I went through all 6 haunted houses. And survived. I know, I even shocked myself! It was incredibly fun, and everyone in the greater Virginia area should check it out!

 Anyway, with no further ado...

Whole Wheat Banana-Nut Muffins
(Adapted from the Banana Nut Muffins recipe on www.simplyrecipes.com.)

Ingredients
6 overripe bananas, mashed
2/3 C. melted butter
1 1/2 C. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. espresso or strong coffee
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 C. all-purpose flour
1 C. whole wheat flour
2 C. chopped walnuts

Method
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the melted butter into the mashed bananas with a wooden spoon, in a large mixing bowl.

- Mix in the sugar, eggs, espresso, and vanilla until well incorporated.

- Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture, then stir in. Add the cinnamon and stir until blended.

- Add all of the flour at once (all-purpose and whole wheat), then stir until it is just incorporated. (Make sure there are no pockets of flour left, but don't over-mix it!) Fold in the chopped walnuts.

- Line a couple of muffin tins with cupcake wrappers. Fill them about 3/4 of the way full with the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack, then store in an airtight container.

Makes about 2 dozen muffins. You could sprinkle sugar or cinnamon-sugar on top. You could also probably substitute a can of pumpkin for the bananas and have a much more fall-y pumpkin-nut muffin. Get creative!

Enjoy!