Well, I fell off the cleanse/diet wagon. Luckily, I fell onto the sugar wagon, which is padded with toasted coconut marshmallows (thank you, Timmi!). So it didn’t hurt a bit.

I am going back on the diet, but in the interim I needed to do something about these super-ripe bananas. (I randomly started calling them smashy bananas… not sure why. But I’m going to go with it).

I have been eying this Barefoot Contessa banana crunch muffin recipe for a while, but I wanted to make it a bit healthier. I substituted some whole wheat flour for all-purpose and used 2 percent milk instead of whole, and the muffins turned out great! They were too sugary though, so I am cutting down the sugar in the recipe below.

Yeah… that’s a lot of butter. It does make a lot of muffins, though.

If you taste the batter and don’t think it’s sweet enough, go ahead and add some more sugar. But I really don’t think you need it. They are full of sweet coconut, granola and bananas, after all.

Unfortunately, this granola didn’t have any big chunks. It was basically just sweetened oats. The muffins will be crunchier if you have chunky granola.

So… I thought it would be cool to use my grandmother’s large muffin pan for this. Let’s just say I wouldn’t suggest doing that unless 1. you are feeding a squad of ravenous rugby players and 2. you have large muffin papers to go with the pan. Otherwise, a normal muffin pan is perfect.

You can top these with coconut, granola, banana chips or nothing. But nothing is too boring.

That is one ginormous muffin. But, a warning: greasing the muffin tin is not enough. You need muffin papers, unless you want something that looks like this:

Enjoy!

Banana crunch muffins (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 eggs
3/4 cups milk (original recipe calls for whole, I used 2% and it was fine)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
1 cup medium-diced bananas (1 banana)
1 cup small-diced walnuts
1 cup granola
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
Additional coconut, granola or dried banana chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

Sift the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer or other large bowl. Pour in the butter and mix, using the paddle attachment on the mixer.

Stir together the eggs, milk, vanilla and mashed banana in a medium bowl, then add the mixture to the bowl with the flours and butter. Mix to blend, scraping down the sides of the bowl. (It shouldn’t take long to blend – don’t overmix)

Fold the diced bananas, walnuts, granola and coconut into the batter. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each to the top. Sprinkle extra coconut, granola or dried banana chips on top of each muffin. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes — until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool muffins slightly in the pan, then remove and serve warm.