Food for Thought: Banana Strawberry Orange Muffins

Candy Girl over at BentOnBetterLunches said it best "How I LOVE muffins, it's so easy to sneak in extra goodness, and the sproutlets just see them as little cakes!" Mama sees it that way too. ;)

After what seems like waaaaay too many holiday treats, cookies, cakes, etc this recipe sounded like the PERFECT thing to make today. Mmm...

One of my favorite foodie blogs is For the Love of Cooking ~ I must add, she is the muffin queen, no lie. This is where I found this delish recipe I'm sharing with all of you!

Banana Strawberry Orange Muffins

Ingredients --

• 2 1/4 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 tbsp fresh orange juice (I used one orange, as did FTLofC)
• 1 1/2 cups of strawberries, sliced (suggested: add a bit of sugar if they are tart)
• 1 tbsp grated orange zest, divided
• 3 tbsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Coat a muffin tin with cooking spray.

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 tablespoon of orange zest together in a small bowl.

Using a hand-masher, I first mashed my bananas in a large bowl. (I don't have a large electric mixer, that would've been the simple solution - but this worked just fine!) I then blended it together with the eggs, brown sugar, melted butter, fresh orange juice, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined then carefully add 1 cup of sliced strawberries and gently mix together. Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tray.

Sprinkle the remaining strawberries evenly over the tops of each muffin, making sure to push them down a bit. (I thought I pushed them down but apparently not as much as I needed to which is why my strawberries on top are sticking out a bit more than I would've liked.)

Combine the sugar and remaining tablespoon of orange zest together and sprinkle evenly on top of each muffin.

Place into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for a few minutes.

PS: My "orange zesting" skills need some practice. lol, so don't mind mine...

Little Miss was so funny when she saw me pulling these out of the oven. Her eyes shot open real wide and she started jumping up and down "I want to eat one now!" lol

The smell of the banana was soo yummy too coming from the oven.

Enjoy!! We are. :)