Ultimate Banana Muffins

The culinary staff of America’s Test Kitchen amaze me.  Seriously, they are like magicians in the kitchen!  Case in point, banana bread.  Did it ever occur to you to cook the bananas before adding them to your batter?  Yes, cooking them, more specifically, microwaving the bananas, releases the liquid that makes for a dense banana cake.  Never ones to be wasteful, the liquid is then reduced to a syrup and added to the batter for additional flavor!  Seriously, this is one special banana bread, well-deserving of its ultimate name.

I chose to make these into muffins because I was short of time, and the muffins cooked in 21 minutes.  While the banana bread has an extra banana sliced and shingled down the sides, I chose to sprinkle on a bit of sugar on all of them and add a pecan half to a few of the muffins.

 Unfortunately, my attempts of making this gluten-free have all fallen short of the original, so I don’t have a gluten-free option for you….yet, but it’s only a matter of time before I get the proportions correctly.  The husband, who is not the biggest fan of banana bread, gave them a thumbs up, high praise from a selective eater.  Andrew said I was the best baker-mom ever.  So, if you want to be the best baker-mom or dad or whatever else, make a batch of these - they are definitely the ultimate!

Ultimate Banana Muffins

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