I'm one of those guest room people. I love having a space for friends and family to stay that's a separate oasis for them to relax while they're away from home. And when they do stay, I always like to make a little something special for breakfast.
For all the discussions we've had about my not devoting a lot of time to breakfast, I've sure given you a different impression lately. Scones, honeyed quinoa with yogurt, and now, muffins. I was planning to make my lemon scones, but the evening before our guests were coming Joy the Baker posted strawberry banana bread that I just couldn't resist.
I was set on baking bread at first, but since it takes about 50 minutes to bake and I wanted breakfast ready a bit faster, I made muffins. The batter is a bit thick, so I thinned it just slightly (and I mean slightly) with some milk prior to filling the muffin tins.
STRAWBERRY BANANA MUFFINS
Mash the bananas according to your own taste. I preferred mine a bit chunkier so bits of the banana would be spread throughout the batter.
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker via The Amateur Gourmet
Makes 12 muffins
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 large bananas, mashed
1/2 cup diced strawberries, plus 1 strawberry very thinly sliced
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line or spray a muffin tin. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until the butter browns and begins to smell nutty. Pour into a bowl and set aside to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and yogurt. Whisk in the mashed bananas. Pour the butter in a very slow stream to temper the eggs and be sure they don't curdle.
Pour the dry ingredients over the wet and incorporate with a spatula. Fold in the strawberries until just combined.
Using an ice cream scoop, portion the batter evenly into 12 muffin tins and place a sliced strawberry on top. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
