Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I've been making banana oatmeal muffins for about a decade now and it's a great way to use ripe bananas. Many people make banana bread, but these are hearty muffins that are a welcome departure from the traditional banana bread. I'll often freeze my ripe bananas in the peel and then thaw them to use in this recipe.

It's a very simple recipe and I don't even break out the kitchenaid to mix up the batter. You mix together your dry ingredients, including flour, sugar and oats. This time I used 1/2 regular flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour. You mix in the wet ingredients, including the mashed banana, milk and a little vegetable. oil.

I've noticed many bakeries using just the plain parchment squares for muffin papers. I used my roll of parchment paper and cut it into 5 inch squares to use. A good tip I read was to use a cup to mold them into the muffin tin.

I filled them with the batter about 2/3 full using my small ice cream/cookie scoop and tried not to get any batter on the edges of the parchment. They baked very nicely and the parchment made them look more rustic and homemade.

Applesauce Spice Muffins

I don't know whether I'd call these muffins or cupcakes. Anything with frosting on top seems to be more officially a cupcake. Either way, they are very tasty and would be perfect with a hot cup of tea or coffee - morning or afternoon. I had some leftover cream cheese frosting from the Valentine cupcakes and extra applesauce that my mother-in-law had made so this was the perfect recipe to come across. The taste is reminiscent of carrot cake with the mixture of spices that is used, but it is a smooth batter with the creamy frosting to finish it off. These were fairly easy to make, especially since I had the frosting already made. I actually chose to bake them just in the tins without cupcake papers and with using the baking spray, they came out of the muffin tins perfectly. I used to always question how much batter and how to easily get it in the tin. The easiest thing for me to do is scoop the batter in using a 1/4 cup measuring cup and just make sure they are all as even as possible so the muffins look consistent after they are baked. These would be perfect for a weekend treat for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. If you're interested in making them, check out the recipe from Martha Stewart. Again, my husbands' colleagues will be receiving a new treat tomorrow morning.