Banana Nut Muffins with Yogurt Icing

Did you guys know that Banana Nut Cheerios are a thing? They are, and they're amazing. My boyfriend told me about them about a month ago, and my brain has been in banana nut mode ever since. Besides eating big bowls of the Cheerios with him, I've put bananas and peanut butter in my oatmeal, shared a caramelized banana/walnut gelato creation while out for dinner one night, and browsed dozens of banana nut muffin recipes online (I used to be pretty heavily addicted to Tim Horton's banana nut muffins in university). An obsession has been unleashed.



This recipe was very highly rated on Allrecipes, so I noted some of the tips in the reviews and wrote it down for later. Then - lucky me - I had exactly 3 bananas starting to turn brown. So... I really had no choice, you see... I had to make these. You believe me, right?

I chose a yogurt icing in part to stay true to the breakfasty origins of my banana nut cravings, and also to balance the sweetness of the cake. You could also top them with a cream cheese icing, or just leave them as-is; they're really moist and delicious on their own.

Banana Nut Muffins with Vanilla Yogurt Icing

Adapted from these recipes on Allrecipes: Banana Muffins II and Yogurt Glaze

Muffins (Makes 12)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 large bananas

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup walnut pieces 

Icing

1 cup Greek yogurt (I used 2% Oikos)

1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

To make the muffins: Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C and line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together and set aside. In a medium bowl, peel and mash the bananas with a fork until mostly mashed but still a bit chunky.Whisk in the sugar, egg, butter, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients and walnuts to the dry ingredients all at once and fold together only until combined - be careful not to over mix. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into one of their centres comes out clean.

To make the icing: measure the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla into a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Put in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. When your muffins are completely cool and you're ready to serve them, you can spread a bit of the icing on each one. I finished these off with banana chips, but you could also sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top, or just leave them plain. These are most delicious at room temperature, but any uneaten iced muffins should be kept in the fridge.