DOVE PEANUT TOFFEE CRUNCH – BANANA MUFFINS

Here’s another way to use Dove Peanut Toffee Crunch.  Chop them and use them like chocolate chips in this super-moist, tender and just-sweet-enough muffin with great banana flavor. 
My top two favorite recipes for banana cake are Ultimate Banana Cake and One-Bowl Banana Nut Cake.  Either one can be served without frosting as a banana bread, or baked in muffin tins.  This recipe ranks as a close third.

Dove Peanut Toffee Crunch-Banana Muffins Adapted from hubpages.com Rating:  8 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS:  1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. sea salt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 1/2 cup chopped Dove Peanut Toffee Crunch, or chocolate chips 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts 3 bananas, very ripe (about 1 cup mashed) 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract) 1 large egg 1/3 cup (5-1/3 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted, cooled Heat oven to 375F.  Grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan, or line with paper cups.  In large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Stir in toffee crunch and walnuts. In medium bowl, whisk together mashed bananas, sugar, vanilla, egg and butter till well mixed.  Pour into dry ingredients all at once and stir together with spoon or spatula just till barely combined.  Do not over mix.  Fill muffin cups almost to top.  Bake 17-19 minutes, or till toothpick inserted in center returns with just a few crumbs.  Feel the pick to be sure it isn’t gummy.  If it is gummy, the muffins are not yet done.  Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.  Yield:  12 muffins

BANANA CRUNCH MUFFINS

I’m not a huge fan of banana muffins, but these are different. First, they’re light as air, but also tender and moist. The banana flavor is almost not there, and the crunch topping is toffee-like, crispy and tender crunchy. Even though I made these with whole wheat flour, no one could tell. This is definitely a keeper.

Banana Crunch Muffins Printable Recipe Source: Judy’s Kitchen Rating: 9 out of 10

INGREDIENTS: 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. white whole wheat flour (or all purpose, if preferred) 1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute) 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/ tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. sea salt 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 1/4 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt (I used Stonyfield Farm) 1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1 large egg 1/2 cup mashed very ripe banana Crunch topping (see recipe below) Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 6-cup muffin tin and a 12-cup mini-muffin tin; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together first 5 ingredients. In a medium microwaveable bowl, melt the butter on high about 30 seconds, covered, or till butter is almost melted. Let it sit in the microwave until it is completely melted, then whisk in the yogurt, vanilla, and egg till very smooth. Add the banana and whisk again till combined. Stir in dry ingredients with a spoon or spatula, and only mix till barely combined. Fill the muffin cups with the batter, using a scant 1/4 cup for standard muffin tins and about a generous tablespoonful for the minis. Top each muffin with some of the crunch topping, and bake about 12 minutes for the minis and about 15 minutes for the standards, or till a toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs. Transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool after they have rested in the pans about 3 minutes. Crunch Topping: 3 Tbsp. melted butter 1/3 cup quick oats (Do not use instant oats, use the 1-minute) 1/3 cup broken pecans 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp. cinnamon 3 Tbsp. dried sweetened coconut Combine all ingredients in small bowl using a fork.

BANANA-NUT-SCOTCHIE MUFFINS

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, ripe bananas are the mother of a new banana recipe. I used a 4-1/2 star recipe from allrecipes.com as a starting point and added bananas, butterscotch morsels, toasted walnuts and pecans, raisins, vanilla and a crumb topping. I subbed white whole wheat flour for all-purpose, took out all but 1 Tbsp. of the oil, and subbed stevia for half of the sugar.

I made half of the muffins with raisins and half with the butterscotch morsels and I really can't say which I like better, because all these flavors just blend so beautifully. But let me tell you upfront -- if you are looking for a fast, easy recipe, this is not it. There are a few steps involved and there are a lot of ingredients. The end result is worth it.

These muffins are moist, tender, flavorful, and just sweet enough. The crumb topping is crunchy and sweet and makes a nice intro to the muffin. These are high on my list, and I think they will be on yours too. There is one thing I would do differently next time, though: Instead of baking these for 14 minutes at 400F, I would heat the oven to 400F, put the muffins in, and immediately reduce the heat to 325F. They will probably take 16-20 minutes to bake, but the butterscotch morsels probably won't burn, as they did with these. Nothing got damaged, though, these are still a top-flight muffin. Another thing that would help is if you press the morsels into the tops of the muffins before sprinkling on the crumb topping. The morsels won't be quite as exposed then. So I've written those changes into the instructions below, and I encourage you to try these delicious treats soon, when you're in the baking mood and when you have some ripe bananas.

Banana-Nut-Scotchie Muffins

Adapted from allrecipes.com

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:

TOPPING:

1 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. white whole wheat flour

3 Tbsp. quick oats

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 cup butterscotch morsels

MUFFIN: 1 cup quick (not instant) oats

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 cup toasted, chopped or broken walnuts, pecans or a combo of both

1/2 cup butterscotch morsels, OR 1/2 cup raisins or combo of both (1/4 cup of each)

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. oil

1/2 cup sugar (or 1/4 cup sugar + 1-1/2 tsp. Stevia)

1/2 tsp. molasses

1 large banana (about 1/2 cup) mashed

In large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk; set aside. If using raisins, in small microwaveable cup or bowl, heat 1/3 cup water to almost boiling; add raisins; set aside.

Prepare topping: In small microwaveable bowl, melt butter. Add remaining topping ingredients, except morsels. Stir with fork till combined; set aside.

Prepare muffins: Heat oven to 400F. Spray 11 muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray; place a few Tbsp. of water in the last remaining cup (to keep the empty cup from warping).

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts. If using morsels, add them in.

Add egg, vanilla, oil, sugar, molasses and banana to the buttermilk-oatmeal mixture and mix well. Drain the raisins and add them and 2 Tbsp. raisin water. Now pour all of this over the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon or spatula just till mixed. Fill muffin cups almost full. Press the remaining 1/3 cup morsels into tops of muffins, dividing equally among the 11. Sprinkle crumb topping over morsels, pressing in slightly (use about 2 tsp./muffin). Place muffins in oven and immediately reduce heat to 325F. Bake 16-20 muffins, or till toothpick inserted near center returns with just a few crumbs. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely. Serve warm. Yield: 11 muffins, standard size

CHUNKY MONKEY MUFFINS, ADAPTED

This was a "use-up-the almost rotten bananas"recipe, found on hubpages.com. I halved the recipe, and didn't realize until I just now read my notes that I inadvertently did not halve the butter. No wonder these were so good! But I'm sure they'll be just as good with the correct amount of butter. Usually I use a butter substitute: pumpkin, applesauce or bananas. This time, I decided to keep the butter in, but used the amount for the full recipe, instead of cutting it in half like the other ingredients. Mabe it was a Freudian slip. Anyway, these muffins are really good -- unbelievably moist, tender and delicate. They're good warm from the oven and they're also good cold. I added some cinnamon, Greek yogurt and a cinnamon-sugar topping and changed the crushed walnuts to toasted broken walnuts. And, of course, I added extra butter by mistake. I'm going to print the right amount of butter in the recipe below, though, just so you know. These are very yummy and worth making, especially if you're looking for a way to use up bananas that are turning browner by the day.

Chunky Monkey Muffins

Rating: 8 out of 10

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or white whole wheat, or mixture of whole wheat and AP)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks

1/4 cup toasted, broken walnuts

3 Tbsp. butter

3/4 cup smashed bananas (about 2 medium)

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 egg

2 Tbsp. vanilla-flavored non-fat Greek-style yogurt

Topping: 1/4 tsp. cinnamon + 1 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375F. Spray muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, whisking together till well combined. Stir in chocolate chunk and walnuts; set aside.

In a medium microwaveable bowl, melt the butter. Mix in the bananas, sugar, and vanilla, beating by hand till well combined. Whisk in the egg and yogurt and again beat till well combined. Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients and stir till just barely combined. Fill 9 muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin top with some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or till muffins test done (when a toothpick inserted near center, and not in chocolate, returns almost clean). Yield: 9 small muffins