Banana macadamia nut muffins!
David and I recently got back from a blissful week spent in Kona, Hawaii for my brother-in-law’s wedding. And I BARELY worked. (PraisetheLordHallelujah.) We arrived late at night and managed to navigate our rental car to our condo in the dark. Supposedly there was an ocean view, but we could not have told you! Since we were exhausted, we passed out in the fluffy white bed within an hour of arriving.
With the time difference, we were up at 7 am feeling as if we had slept for hours and hours. Waking up slowly and lazily without any feelings of “I should be doing . . .” and “I really should be getting . . .” is a magical thing. And behold! A spectacular ocean view from our 6th floor condo and the beach was walking distance!
Since our stomachs were doing their best to imitate a couple of wild things, we ventured down to the beach in search of food. We stopped at the first place we came to–Huggo’s! It is a beautiful restaurant/bar that hangs out over the water. As we sat enjoying POG juice (passion fruit, orange, guava juice), the waitress swooped by our table and delivered a basket filled with little pieces of heaven. Banana macadamia nut muffins. <insert dramatic pause here>
You GUYS. Life changing. David–good man that he is–sat through five minutes of me raving about the muffins. These muffins were dense, and banana-y, with the perfect amount of macadamia nuts and a just-crisp, browned buttery shell. I told David that I would re-create those muffins if it took a dozen batches. When we hit up the macadamia nut factory, I bought a pound of macadamia nuts with banana macadamia nut muffins on the brain.
When I got home . . . I started my research. (My lawyer-ness can’t help it.)
Goals / Researched Solution:
- Dense muffin = little extra mixing; balance with extra liquid so they don’t turn out dry
- Browned outer crust = crust comes from milk fat solids; use butter instead of oil & butter the pan
- High dome = thicker batter (i.e., extra flour); start at higher temperature to create the “puff” of steam & DO NOT open the oven
With these parameters for the perfect banana macadamia nut muffins. . . I was off!
Buttering the pan was key. I’ve always used paper liners, but I will butter the pan from now on, because I love that brown crust. These muffins came oh-so-close to spilling over the edge, before they were strong enough to hold their shape. By the grace of God, they managed to hold on JUST in time. David and I have been eating them for breakfast . . . and a snack . . . and dessert. They lasted a whopping total of 48 hours, and I’ve had to make a couple extra trips to the gym. WORTH IT.
Nutrition & Macros per Muffin: calories: 261 carbs: 37 g fat: 13 g protein: 4 g sugar: 20 g
Serves 12 muffins
20 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/3 cup buttermilk OR scant 1/3 cup milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup minus 1 Tablespoon sugar (yep - just scoop a tablespoon out of the cup)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 medium or 3 small bananas)
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup macadamia nuts
- extra nuts for topping
- extra butter for greasing
- 1/4 cup buttermilk OR scant 1/4 cup milk + 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. (Low Altitude: 375 degrees.)
- Grease muffin tin with butter. (Not shortening. Not oil. Not spray.)
- Mash bananas and fine-chop the macadamia nuts.
- If using lemon juice method, mix milk and lemon juice and set aside to curdle.
- Cream together butter and sugar until well mixed.
- Whisk in eggs and mashed banana until well mixed.
- Separately stir together flour, soda, and salt.
- Stirring by spoon, alternate adding milk and dry ingredients to the banana mixture until just incorporated. You want the batter to be right between pourable and cookie dough. So it should slowly ooze when you tip the bowl. Watch this as you add the milk and don't feel like you have to use all of the milk if it's getting too thin.
- Stir in macadamia nuts.
- Scoop batter into greased muffin tin until a 1/4 inch from the top. Add no more than a tablespoon of nuts to the top. (If you weigh down the top, it won't dome.)
- Bake 3 minutes at 400 degrees. (Low Altitude: 375 degrees.) Do not open the oven door.
- Drop oven temperature to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, while leaving muffins in the oven. (Low Altitude: 350 degrees.) As soon as you set the new temperature, start timing again. Continue baking muffins for 20 minutes (low altitude: 25 minutes)--watch for brown to start creeping up the sides of the dome.
- Remove from oven and pull muffins out of the tin to cool on a rack as soon as possible.
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