A brief hiatus from the baking with veggies series, but have no fear, I will return to it soon.

I know I haven't been good about posting this week and it's because, like the rest of the country, there's a heat wave here and the thought of heating up the oven, even to bake something delicious, hasn't been very appealing. I break the spell for two reasons: one, today it was a little cooler than it has been and two, it's a friend's birthday tomorrow and he requested the chocolate chip toffee scones in honor of that day. I also baked something new as well, and as the oven has now been on for just over 3 hours and my dwelling heats along with it, I hope this demonstrates my commitment to you, my readers.

Banana Chocolate Chip Macadamia Muffins
From Epicurious.com

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 large)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup unsalted Macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped
• 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (optional)
  

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Grease twelve muffin cups or line with muffin papers.
• Sift first 4 ingredients into large bowl.
• Combine bananas, both sugars, butter, milk and egg in medium bowl.
• Mix into dry ingredients.
• Fold in nuts.
• Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
• Bake until muffins are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
• Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

About this recipe: Okay, so really this recipe should be called "Banana Macadamia Nut Muffins," the addition of chocolate chips was my roomies' idea that was inspired by the other recipe I'd considered making: "Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins." They were very similar but this recipe stood out because it had a smidgen of nutmeg in it and I thought that was interesting and it used a bit of dark brown sugar. Anyhow, two handfuls of chocolate chips later and we're in business.

Making this muffin batter was simple and straight forward. Don't bother with the mixer, a wooden spoon and large bowl will suffice.

I got just slightly under 1 1/4 cups of smashed banana out of 3 large ones, so their recommendation is accurate.

I divided my batter evenly between 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Don't be afraid to fill to the top of the cups--these muffins don't rise too much.

My muffins were done after 22 minutes so I recommend setting your timer for 20 check them at that point.

The result: A moist, banana nut muffin with chocolate chips that add a wonderful sweetness and flavor. The Macadamia nuts are very unique and add their one-of-a-kind crunch and rich flavor to the mix of banana and chocolate. If you don't have any Macadamia's or don't have the money for them, then walnuts would be an acceptable substitute.