Remember these?

Well, I didn’t have time to bake something with them when they were at this point, so I mashed them up (with a fork) and froze them.

Then, today, I took this happy bag of banana mush out of the freezer, thawed it out in the fridge and made my favorite muffins.

I actually don’t normally like muffins that much. But I do like banana bread, and I love coconut. So when I saw this recipe in Gourmet (R.I.P.) six years ago, I had to try it.

Since then, I’ve made them approximately 9 zillion times. Because they are amazing — and easy.

You may be wondering why I usually write R.I.P. after mentioning Gourmet magazine. I had a subscription to Gourmet for about seven years, starting when I barely knew how to cook anything. But it seemed like there were at least three things in every issue that I would want to try, and there were always sufficient instructions. I also rarely had trouble finding the ingredients or a substitute. Then, last year, the company that owns Gourmet announced they were killing it.

Of course, my mom had already renewed my subscription for a year. So the company replaced all those subscriptions with Bon Appetit (which they also own). And I pretty much hate Bon Appetit. I have never even made anything from it, because very few things ever look good and the few things that do usually have some kind of ingredient you can only purchase at one particular store in Manhattan. Ugh.

So, in summary: Gourmet rocks. Bon Appetit sucks. Make these muffins.

Sweetened flaked coconut should be in the baking aisle, near the chocolate chips. And stay away from the store brand. Baker’s brand is much more moist — it really makes a difference.

The recipe says it makes 8 muffins, but it usually makes more like 12-18 for me.
Banana coconut muffins (From Gourmet magazine)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (3/4 cup)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until well combined. Fold* flour mixture in until just combined (there will still be lumps).

Fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle with remaining coconut.

Bake about 25 minutes, until muffins are puffed and golden. Cool in pans for about two minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

*I wanted to make a video of how to fold for you, but I was by myself and can’t shoot video with my left hand while folding with my right (sorry!). I found this video that should give you an idea in the first few seconds, even though it is really about whipping and incorporating egg whites. Warning: the music is pretty annoying.