Heidi Espresso Banana Muffins

My friend Maria offered me Heidi Swanson's cookbook, Super Naural Cooking, for Christmas. I was so excited because I absolutely love her, she is one of my favorite chef. Like me, she uses whole and natural, minimally processed ingredients.

Today, I tried her Espresso Banana Muffins. They are absolutely delicious and I thought I would share the recipe with you. For extra extravaganza mix some cream cheese with maple syrup and eat it with the muffins. Beware though, it's so good you might want to eat more than one!

Ingredients

2 cups white whole-wheat flour

2 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

1/2 tsp fine-grain sea salt

1 1/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts

1 tbsp fine espresso powder (if you don't have espresso coffee - place 1 tbsp of coffee in your grinder or food processor until very fine)

6 tbsp of unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup natural cane sugar

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 3 large bananas)

Directions

Heat oven to 375, position the racks low in the oven, and line 12 muffin cups with paper liner.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, 3/4 cup of the walnuts, and the espresso powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate large bowl or a stand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and then the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla, yogurt, and mashed bananas, then briefly and gently mix in the dry ingredients: overmixing will result in tough muffins.

Spoon into the prepared muffin tin (an ice-cream scoop works well), top with the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, and bake until golden, about 25-30 minutes. Fill the cups two-thirds full for regular muffins or to the brim for a big-topped version. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool immediately. Makes 12 muffins.