Weekend baking: Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

I guess I'm kind of weird about bananas--I only like them when they're pretty green, and as soon as any brown spots show up, I'm not interested in eating them anymore. Which is how I ended up with 3 extremely overripe bananas on my kitchen counter. They were no good for eating (although one of my friends loves bananas so ripe that the entire skin is brown, can you imagine? Yech!) but were perfect for baking! And with whole wheat flour, almonds, and honey instead of sugar, I like to think that these will be a relatively healthy choice for breakfast when I don't have time to make something more complicated. They looked like they were going to be pretty plain, so I added a sprinkle of pearl sugar on top before baking them. Mukmuk seems to approve :) (The recipe's at the bottom of this post.)

It was surprisingly warm (well, relatively speaking) on Sunday so I enjoyed my walk to the Morningside Heights farmer's market. It's a lot smaller than the one at Union Square, but is also a lot less hectic (and, well, it's within walking distance. Sometimes you just don't want to take the subway.)


I picked up some fresh shiitake and enoki mushrooms from Madura Farms. I sliced up a bunch of the shiitakes and sauteed them in olive oil with half of a shallot and a sprinkle of sea salt, then tossed that with whole wheat fettuccine (from Knoll Krest Farm, also at the market) and more olive oil and some crumbled feta from Ardith Mae. Oh man. What a delicious lunch! Half of it is going into my bento box tomorrow and I can't wait.


And for dessert, a winesap (right) and an arlet (left) apple. Yes, I ate both of these in one day. Yeah, I was really hungry I guess! The winesap was extra delicious (so crispy!) so next week I will be sure to buy more. I picked up a few other things from the market (sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes) and I'm sure they will be put to good use soon.


On the way home, I saw these gorgeous tulips at a flower stand and couldn't resist. This winter feels like it's gone on forever and spring seems so far away, but these flowers give me some hope! They're on my table now, brightening up my apartment. Gosh, I really hope spring comes soon.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins, adapted from King Arthur Flour
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 3!)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped almonds, toasted and cooled
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
pearl or coarse sparkling sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Combine butter, honey, and mashed bananas, and beat until smooth. Beat in egg, vanilla, and milk. Sift dry ingredients together and stir into the liquid ingredients. A few lumps are fine! Stir in the almonds and chocolate chips, if you're using them. Divide between the muffin cups, filling them almost full. I had enough batter to make 13 (the last one went in a stand-alone cupcake case). Sprinkle with pearl sugar, if desired. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a rack and eat!

Sheep & Wool Festival in Rhinebeck

What's that you say? Where's the food in my alleged food blog? Don't worry--there's some food in this post, and hey, there's even a recipe at the end! But I have to admit, I have not been doing much baking (or interesting eating) lately because I've been so freaking busy!! Still, it's my favorite season and I've had a few moments to enjoy the cool weather (perfect tea-drinking weather), sunshine, and this past weekend, we escaped the city for a little while to pet sheepies at the Sheep and Wool Festival! Yay sheep!! How can you resist a face like this?


Okay, that's not a sheep, it's an alpaca. But how gorgeous is she? I desperately want to move somewhere where I can have a mini farm which will be the home of a mini sheep, mini alpaca, mini pony, mini donkey...you get the idea, right?


This sheep reminds me of a friend of mine (same haircut, heh).


Rhinebeck is about a 2 hour drive north of NYC, so with that in mind, I made a batch of pumpkin muffins to tide us over until we could eat an appropriately unhealthy fair lunch. What's not to like about pumpkin muffins? These have a sprinkling of crystallized ginger inside and a dusting of pearl sugar on top; when I make them again (and you know I will!), I'll double the amount of ginger. In the end though, we were too busy talking on the drive to actually eat any--I ate one afterwards :) (Recipe is at the bottom of this post!)


It was a gorgeous day for a drive and along the way we saw lots and lots of fall foliage (I was driving though, so mostly I saw road, hah!). And when we finally arrived, we browsed a couple of buildings' worth of yarns and fleeces before we stopped for a snack:


It's not a fair unless you have something fried, and this fit the bill. I felt mildly queasy afterwards and so skipped the fried dough and other fried goodies available. Actually now that I think about it, those cheese fries were pretty much all we ate all day (except for my muffin later on). Oh wait, we also had cups of cocoa on the way out, more to warm up our chilly fingers! Enough babbling, here are some more pictures of sheepies and alpacas and goats!


An extremely regal and aloof alpaca. I don't know if you can quite see it, but his name tag is Emperor Alexander. Indeed!


Hooves.


Smiley sheep.


Eeeeevil sheep.


Inquisitive horned sheep!


We spotted this on the bouncy castle; I'm pretty sure this is a knight wearing assless armor-chaps. What's up with that? We remain befuddled.


An Ewok. No, no. It's a miniature sheep! And I desperately, desperately want one. Even though we left with no sheep, I had a lovely day out, so thanks to my buds for coming along, and thanks to the sheep for letting me pet you (soooo soft and squishy).

Gingery Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12 muffins, one loaf, or 3 mini-loaves

1 cup pumpkin (canned is fine, but make sure you use plain pumpkin, not pumpkin PIE filling)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup flavorless vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 - 3/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
Additional ginger or pearl sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffin cups with papers (or whatever baking vessel you are using). Sift flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt together into a small bowl. Toss in the crystallized ginger bits and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine pumpkin, sugars, syrup, and vegetable oil and beat until combined. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir the flour mixture in with a wooden spoon, just until combined. This is a fairly soft batter, so this should not be difficult. Spoon batter into muffin cups, about 2/3rd full (or pour into a greased and floured loaf pan or mini pans). Sprinkle with pearl sugar or additional ginger chips, if desired. Bake muffins about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. A full sized loaf pan will take about 45 minutes and mini pans will take about 30. Enjoy! Preferably with some hot tea...or maybe hot cider. Mmmm, cider...