Upside-down banana muffins

 

These muffins are not “healthy” or low-carb or anything, but I decided to try them anyway because I thought the kids would like them. It turns out the Engineer was the biggest fan! They have a bananas-foster vibe going on, which was really nice. I’d probably recommend reducing slightly the amount of butter and sugar in each cup, because I ended up with a crystallized sugar layer that, while not unpleasant, was probably not the intended result. I used only 1 banana instead of 3 – I really think that the muffins would overflow if you were to use that much! (The recipe is originally from Parents magazine, but they don’t have it up online.) 

24 tsp. lactose-free butter (see note above) 

24 tsp. brown sugar (see note above) 

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used white whole wheat) 

½ cup brown sugar 

2 tsp. baking powder 

¾ tsp. cinnamon 

¼ tsp. kosher salt 

1/3 cup canola oil 

2 eggs 

¼ cup lactose-free milk 

1 ½ tsp. vanilla 

1 banana (see note above) 

Preheat oven to 375 °F. 

Place 1 teaspoon of the butter and 1 teaspoon of the brown sugar in each of the wells in a mini-muffin pan. Bake 5 minutes and set aside (but leave the oven on). 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry and stir until just combined. 

When butter mixture is cool, cut the banana into 24 thin slices. Place 1 in each muffin cup and fill with batter. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (there may be melted sugar or banana on there, but there should be no batter). 

To unmold, I decided that the best thing to do was to place a baking sheet over the muffin tin, then flip the whole thing over. I pushed down on each cup to make sure the muffin was dislodged before removing the pan and placing the muffins in a container.  

Muffins can be stored for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container, or in the fridge.