Chunky Banana Bran Muffins

Now that my computer is fixed, I can post again! Delightful! I saw Ina Garden make this recipe on Food Network (her show is Barefoot Contessa) yesterday and realized that we had some bananas in the kitchen that were ready to be baked! This is kind of a college-y version of her recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup All Bran Cereal
1 cup buttermilk (shaken)***
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup raisins - About 3 1-ounce boxes of raisins
1 cup large-diced bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
***If you don't have buttermilk, you can have two subsitution options: use 1 cup of plain yogurt OR make your own buttermilk! Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes (this is what I did). Essentially, you are souring the milk. Gross, right?


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place paper liners into 1 (10 or 12-cup) muffin tin.


2. Combine the bran and buttermilk and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl for about 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, 1 at a time. Scrape the bowl and then add the molasses and vanilla. Add the bran/buttermilk mixture and combine. At this point, the mixture might look a little funky/curdled. Don't worry! It's supposed to look that way :-)




3. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to the batter just until combined. Don't overmix it! Fold in the raisins, bananas and walnuts with a rubber spatula.





4. With an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill the muffin cups to the top and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.