This experiment was inspired by aromas. I really love the smell of black pepper. I find it so complex and full of twists and turns. Bananas too have an intestong aroma that evolves wih the ripeness of the fruit. The best bananas for breads and muffins are the ones that almost squish out of the dark peel; a banana rarely eaten in the same way that a bright yellow banana is eaten. The result of my current curiosity sounds like something from a spell book. Grab the squishy brown bananas, and black pepper and take these charming muffins to a Halloween party. If you want to creep people out a little, up the amount of black pepper by a smidge.
Yields 12 standard size muffins. You’ll need a muffin tin and muffin cups if desired.
Banana Black Pepper Muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 3/4 c cane sugar
- 2 T brown sugar
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/3 cup oil
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla
- kosher salt and more cane sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. If not using muffins cups, spray muffin tin with cooking spray. Measure dry ingredients (flour-black pepper) into a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. In another bowl, combine sugars through vanilla and whisk together. Add banana mixture to the flour mixture and gently fold until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups. Sprinkle a little kosher salt and cane sugar ontop of muffins, then bake. Check muffins after 20 minutes. When you can really smell the muffins and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, remove them from the oven and allow to cool.
KP The Real 