I can't stop making these...

Spiced Banana-Walnut Muffins
Recipe created by Edward Espe Brown


Photo: Lara Robby

Warm, rich, and subtly spiced, these muffins are therapy in a baking tin. Ripe bananas and apple sauce give them loads of flavor while keeping fat to a minimum.This recipe uses applesauce in place of some of the butter or oil to make these muffins a healthier treat. For the richest flavor, use overripe bananas.

Ingredients:Serves 6

1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter or vegetable oil
1 cup (2 to 3 whole) very ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a standard 6-muffin tin with paper liners or grease well; set aside.

Put flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a large bowl; set aside.

Put sugar and butter or oil into a second large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add bananas, applesauce, zest, vanilla, and egg to the sugar-butter mixture, and beat again until combined. Add flour mixture to banana mixture in three parts, stirring well after each addition; fold in walnuts.Spoon batter into prepared tin; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from The Tassajara Bread Book , by Edward Espe Brown, copyright © 1995 (with permission from Shambhala Publications, Inc.)