Banana-Coconut-Walnut-Cinnamon Muffins by The Careless Cook

 

Banana-Coconut-Walnut-Cinnamon Muffins by The Careless Cook

 

What if you need to feed muffins to about twenty hungry ladies who have flitted past the age of consent long ago and hurdled a few other milestones?  What if you only have an hour or so to complete this wondrous task?  Now let’s up the ante.  Suppose your culinary career and high hopes for a settled and peaceful home-life rides on your performance?

 

Can it be done?  Well, of course and The Careless Cook will lead you on, smiling and cheerful.  Who knows, you may even get in return sly winks from your fatted calves and promises of sweet reminders of your youth, like chocolate cookies and your grandmother’s peanut brittle.  If you are lucky, you may even get pecks on the cheek, but I wouldn’t count on it.  There are limits.

 

Admittedly, The Careless Cook keeps a well-stocked larder, so if my three faithful followers lag behind in the fundamentals of chefery, they may need to make a quick trip to a nearby grocery.  And let that be a lesson to you!

 

It’s football season, so I’ll put it this way:  Are you ready to cook?  I SAID:  ARE YOU READY TO COOK?  YES, you scream, as we break the huddle and head to the kitchen.

 

Time to get on with it.

 

Sometimes the best recipes may be found on common packaging and so it was with this one from a box of Bran Flakes.  But, of course, being careless by nature and habit, The Careless Cook had to make a few minor changes, all of which are pleasing.

 

Banana-Coconut-Walnut-Cinnamon Muffins.

I realize that’s a mouthful. You may want to casually 

 mention Bran Muffins and let your hungry hordes guess

 the rest.

 

NOTE:  You may have noticed I frequently use my food processor for blending bakery dough or batter.  NOT THIS TIME.  ALL IS HAND MIXED IN A BOWL, WITH A WHISK.

 

Ingredients

 

2 cups of bran flakes

1 ripe banana, mashed

1 x 13.66 ounce can of coconut milk, or whatever amount your can says

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract…I just used a slosh

1 ½ cups of flour. I used unbleached all purpose

½ to ¾ cups of chopped walnuts

1 good handful of sweetened, shredded coconut

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or a bit more

½ teaspoon salt  - don’t you just hate it when recipe

writers turn up their noses to show off their delicate sensitivities by specifying what kind of salt, like kosher salt or sea salt?  Yes there are some minor differences, but with ½ teaspoon, sodium chloride is sodium chloride!

 

People sometimes ask me, is salt really kosher?  No.  It’s a heavy grained salt, with no additives, used to season or preserve kosher meat.

 

Puttin’ It Together

 

Preps:

Heat your oven to 375ºF (with my oven, which runs a little hot, I used 350ºF)

Smear a 12 cup muffin tin with butter.  I used my fingers to smear and to make sure the tins were well coated. 

 

I was making 20+ muffins, so I used two 12 cup muffin tins and only filled them halfway.

 

1. Put bran cereal and coconut milk in a large bowl and stir well. Add banana, sugar, vanilla, and egg.  Stir until well blended.  Now whisk in remaining ingredients (except for flour and baking soda) until well blended.

 

2. Whisk together the flour and baking soda, and blend in with the other ingredients, a little at a time.

 

3. Put the batter in the muffin tins and shove them in the oven for 20 minutes.  Since I was only filling my cups half full, I used 18 minutes. Either way, test by inserting a toothpick in a muffin.  Should come out clean.

 

Time to finish that morning snifter of brandy and pat yourself on the back, if you can still reach your back.  If not, either join a yoga class, or ask the ladies to do the patting.

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