I have decided that many things must go well for my day to be a success. I want to have a good day. This means having a great coffee, a nice haircut, new clothes, favorable weather, and, of course, tasty food. The day will likely be affected if any of these factors is wrong. One trip to Kansas City, however, was quite the opposite. It was awesome, for lack of a more appropriate word.
I spent a good thirty minutes playing with my nephew at the home of my sister and brother-in-law in KC. There was a flurry of plastic softballs and bats and toddler squeals. It was pure joy. John and I left the hotel after a few swipes of makeup and a few dry shampoo shots. We started at the Plaza, where our first thought was coffee.
My eyes immediately drew me to the most gorgeous banana muffin I had ever seen. It was studded with whole, shelled, giant walnuts. I had already made my mind up: a medium house espresso and a big banana muffin.
After receiving my coffee, I noticed that they had forgotten my muffin. The barista was extremely sorry and grabbed my muffin from the pastry case. He also offered to give me some free milk for his mistake. I obliged. The environment was perfect. I had a coffee, a banana-nut muffin that was the size of my hand, free local milk, and WiFi.
After just one bite, I was already craving another muffin. Instead, I decided to recreate the recipe myself. After we returned to Wichita a few days after our trip, I recreated the recipe. This is literally one of the most delicious muffins that I have ever eaten.
This recipe is hearty and healthy, takes less than one hour to make, and yields two giant vegan muffins. They are worthy of selling at the coffee shop. Do they have a position for a part-time baker there? It would be great if they did, as I am convinced that the world needs to see more of these muffins.
These muffins are moist, sweet, and bursting with banana flavor. What about those huge nuts on top? It was everything I hoped it would be. They’re also quite healthy, thanks to ingredients such as flaxseeds, whole-wheat flour, and whole, shelled almonds. One of these contains 370 calories, which is a complete breakfast. As that is what I usually eat for breakfast, I would be happy to have these as a weekend treat. Or I could incorporate them into my normal weekday morning routine. Oh, joy.
Ingredients
- Half a cup of whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- One pinch of salt
- One very ripe Banana
- 3 Tbsp. brown sugar
- One heaping tablespoon of vegan butter (melted)
- One small flax egg (1/2 tbsp flaxseed meal (3.5g) + 2 tbsp water, as written in the original recipe)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- Topping: 4 Tbsp of whole walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F and butter lightly two small ramekins (adjust the number of ramekins as needed if you are changing batch size). Set aside flax eggs.
- Mash the banana in a large bowl. Leave some texture.
- Add the brown sugar, baking powder, and salt, and whisk for a minute.
- Add vanilla, butter, and flax eggs.
- Stir flour with a spatula or spoon until combined.
- Top with walnuts and evenly divide the batter into ramekins.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. A toothpick or knife should come out clean. Remove from ramekins, let cool for a couple of minutes, and then serve hot. These are moist enough without any additional butter.
