Host An Unforgettable Book Club Party

In What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty one of the foods the main character Alice is known for is her banana muffins.  I have a healthier version of banana muffins which is made with wheat flour, wheat germ and applesauce.  This is a hearty muffin and may not be for those who like their muffins to taste like cake, which is what many store-bought muffins taste like to me.  I have a basic recipe that I occasionally spruce up with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips or a streusel topping.   I could not decide which one would be the best to recommend so I decided to have a taste test.  I doubled the recipe and made 4 different muffins – plain, chocolate chip, peanut butter chip and streusel topping.  My kids and their neighborhood friends served as my subjects.  I was surprised how opinionated they were!  The kids had so much fun being able to tell an adult exactly what they thought of the food they were served.  Luckily most of it was good and they each devoured at least 5 mini muffins.  The chocolate chip won across the board.

Healthy-ish Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 kids snack pack of applesauce or about 1/2 cup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Grease mini muffin cups or line with muffin papers (I like to use butter flavored cooking spray).
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, wheat flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a medium bowl, beat together the bananas, brown sugar, eggs, melted butter, applesauce and vanilla.  Gently stir into the flour mixture until just moistened.  The batter should be a little lumpy.
4. Fill the prepared muffin cups about 3/4 full.
5. Bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Variations

Chocolate or peanut butter chips – add 3/4 cup chips (chop them if you are not using mini chips)

Streusel topping- 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon butter.  Combine the first 3 ingredients then cut in the butter until you have coarse crumbs.  Sprinkle over the muffins before baking.

My taste testers:

Although it looks like they are all grabbing the muffins, my son with the black sleeve is actually putting his back.  He was not a fan of the peanut butter chips.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Head over to her site to see delicious posts about all things food-related.