Banana Bread Muffins

Tomorrow I am in charge of bringing snacks to C's cooperative preschool.  Last time I brought snacks I made homemade mini banana muffins and dried craisins.  Most kids ate two muffins and one kid even tried to fish one out of the garbage can!  Gross...  Needless to say, it was easy to decide what to make for tomorrow.  Banana muffins!

When B was in coop preschool almost every parent brought homemade treats, or very creative store bought treats.  Now that C is in coop preschool, on the other side of the lake, we've found that no one brings anything homemade.  Treats are usually from a can, crackers, or individual slices of banana.  This may explain why kids were shoving the homemade banana muffins in their mouths or eating them out of the garbage can?  The whole phenomena is shocking to me.  I'm not sure why, but I figured where we live now would be filled with health minded parents and had some 'extra' time, or would want to provide something yummy for their kids at preschool.  Apparently people on 'this' side of the lake have less time?  Don't even get me started on the discussions about food when a nutritionist came to the classroom.

Okay, enough of my rambling.  Back to the bananas!  Today I tried a new banana bread recipe and it was quick, easy, and chock full of banana.  I used mini muffin tins and made three dozen minis with one batch of batter.  And there was enough batter leftover to make five normal sized muffins.  The big guys got a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top!

I pushed the chocolate chips down a bit so they wouldn't get burnt sitting on top of the batter.

The mini muffins were so small, but they are a perfect size for a two year old's hand. And mouth!

If you decide to make mini muffins, spray the tins with a nonstick spray and start checking at 8 minutes.  You may need to add a few more minutes on to cook time depending on your oven.  I tested the cook time by baking one single mini muffin before baking the entire batch.  The larger muffins took closer to 12 minutes, but keep an eye on them!

If you want to make a loaf, use a standard 9x5 pan and grease well.

Banana Banana Bread, courtesy of many random internet searches

2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/3 c. mashed very overripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease 9 x 5 loaf pan.  In large bowl, combine flour, soda and salt.  In separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended.

Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.