Extra-Special Banana Muffins

With visions of honey-roasted sunflower seeds (have you tried those yet? A *definite* MUST!), over-ripe bananas, and honey-flavored Greek yogurt  in my head for several days. . . what to do? What to do?

I finally gathered not only my thoughts, but the ingredients and went to my mixing bowl to see what would happen. . .

Success!! on the very first try with this amazingly simple (sorry, Jane. There are more than your limit of five ingredients. . .but trust me - this one's definitely do-able.), super-delicious Banana Muffins. Okay, they are more than just Banana Muffins - they are Super-Duper, Extra-Special, Amazingly-Wonderful Banana Muffins. . . if I do say so myself. And I do. . . and so did everyone that tried one. . .or two. . . or three. . . or. . . ;-)

Extra-Special Banana Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup turbinado (raw) or white sugar
1/4 cup granulated honey OR good ol' 'fresh-bee' honey (you can also substitute more sugar)

2 cups mashed (about one-two medium) banana
1/2 cup yogurt (I used Greek honey-flavored yogurt)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (Tahitian vanilla if you have it)
1/2 tsp orange extract

1/2 - 1+ cup honey-roasted sunflower seed kernels (optional) (pecans would also be tasty)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine first five dry ingredients in large mixing bowl. Create a 'well' in the center of the combined dry ingredients

and add the next five wet ingredients. Combine until mixture is *just* moistened through, then stir in sunflower seeds.

Prepare your muffin pan with spray oil and fill each cup to nearly level.

Bake 10-12 minutes in preheated oven until golden on top and toothpick comes out clean.

 Let cool a few minutes then remove from pan.

Serve warm or cold - no butter necessary;-)

I made mini-muffins and this recipe yielded 32 - which would be about 16 full-sized muffins. Now - go ahead - ask me if that was enough. . . nope! I'm so pleased that this recipe not only worked out - but surpassed my expectations on the very first attempt!

YUM!!!!

Have a Banana Muffin kind of day -

Robin Z