Caroline Makes Muffins

By now I am sure many of you have seen the wonderful website Ming Makes Cupcakes (and if you haven’t, check it out right now).

I love the layout, the simple, straightforward food styling and the to-the-point recipes. It has become one of my favorite blogs to drool over when 4pm hits and the only thing I can think about are snacks.

I am not a big cupcake-baker at home (Andy is not a fan and we always have about a million cupcakes left over) but, I do make a lot of muffins. This weekend I made some adjustments to my favorite Banana Muffin recipie and was quite pleased with the results.

I thought I would share it with you Ming-style along with some photos of her own creations below.

Photos from Ming Makes Cupcakes. From left: Cupcake #29; Cupcake #23; Cupcake #28; Cupcake #13

And now, the recipe for my Banana Date Muffins (photo at top of post).

Banana Date Muffins (adapted from here)

3 or 4 mashed bananas

1/2 c. olive oil

1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

3 eggs

1 t. vanilla

1/4 c. sour cream

1 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 c. slivered almonds (toasted)

dried pitted dates

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. With an electric mixer, mix the wet ingredients until smooth and creamy. Sift in the first three dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Fold in spices.

Spoon batter into greased cupcake-tins, filling halfway. Place one whole pitted date in the center of each cupcake and cover with remaining batter to about three-quarters full. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and bake about 20-25 minutes until done.