Theme Thursday: Dreaming

Alright folks, I going to mix it up a bit for Theme Thursday and I am going to blog ala Pioneer Woman. 

Unlike Ree I happen to like bananas and love banana goodies.

Steak and Shake Banana Shakes? I die a little. Side by side Chocolate Banana? Sinful. Of course I am talking about the yellow-y fake banana shakes not the "real banana shakes" they drag out once a year. I've had 2 of those. The first one was okay. The second one was grey and didn't taste like anything much less banana. Stick to the yellow ones.

And with that little side note on Steak and Shake I'd continue to rattle off banana things but let's just go ahead and say you get it? Mmkay good.

So. Anyway. Earlier today my sole punk (I'm being Ree remember?) climbed up on the kitchen table to the fruit bowl and took a bit out of one of the 3 really ripe bananas that were sitting there. He was VERY pleased with himself in a way only a toddler can be and since he managed to peel all 3 in this table escapade I knew it was time for banana muffins. As fate would have it, I had actually been saving those bananas for that very thing, C just kicked it into high gear I guess.

The recipe I use is a slight adaptation of this charming recipe. I've made it just as it is. They're good. But I like my version better.

Preheat your oven to 350 and gather your ingredients.

• 1.5 C All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• .5 tsp salt
• 3 large overripe bananas
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 C melted butter
• splash of vanilla

You will want to get a bowl. I use a Martha Stewart Batter Bowl myself but whatever you've got is great. 

1. Mash the bananas. Mash 'em real good. (Do a little Salt-n-Pepa groove while you're doing that. I won't tell. Count it as cardio too if you want.) 

Right about here you will need to stop to feed your punk(s) macaroni and cheese and a clementine. They might need more milk. That's okay. The bananas can wait. 

Starting over... 

1. Melt the butter. Stovetop. Microwave. It doesn't matter just make it liquid. I know 1/3 C of butter seems irresponsible but you just did some cardio and butter is delicious.
2. Mix the butter, splash of vanilla, egg, sugar into the banana. Get it all together. 
3. Add the salt, baking powder and soda then mix it all up again. If your husband is home ogle his butt. If not just think about it. Ree would. 
4. Fold in the flour. This is when most recipes for muffins scare you about over mixing. Sometimes I under mix because I want them to turn out. So we're taking the word mix out. Just fold all the wet and flour together until you don't see white powder anymore. 
5. Pour into your muffin tin. I use Baker's Joy to spray the living daylights out of the pan but I am sure you can use paper baking cups if that's more your thing. This step is where the batter bowl comes in handy in case you were curious. 
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Our oven runs hot. Yours might not. The tops of the muffins will bounce back if touched or stick a toothpick in 'em. Your house is going to smell really really good. Unless you don't like bananas. 
7. Take them out of the tin to cool them. 
8. Eat them. I like butter on my banana bread/muffins. If you do too take a bite of these without the butter just once. The melted butter in the recipe does magic and it already has a great flavor. But then go ahead and butter it anyway. We are being Ree people and she uses butter like there's no tomorrow. 

So that's really just it. You should go make these.

The ultimate in unedited Theme Thursday pictures you guys. Because I am dreaming about Ree's kitchen(s) and her mega million $ book deals and show and everything. Yet I like my life and the fact that my cooling rack is next to my crock pot, a bag of Cuties, the scissors used to get into the bag of Cuties, a pen and the Lead never goes Extinct magnet. That is real life. 

Dreaming is fine. But real life is even better today. Now I'm going to go have a muffin since it is nap time I won't have to share. Linking up with Cari.