A practice that has fallen by the wayside in our house is making large batches of muffins and freezing them for later breakfasts — this recipe was in constant rotation. The finished muffins are moist even after the freeze/thaw cycle, but are best warm from the oven. If you’re not a fan of walnuts, mini chocolate chips work well here too!

If you regularly bake with bananas, try buying the bruised ones on sale and freezing them – they mash easier when thawed and there’s no difference in taste.

Banana-Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 3/4 cup mashed banana
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter, banana, milk, egg, sugar, and vanilla until well-combined.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Pour wet ingredients onto dry and mix until just combined – dry spots and clumping are OK, and the batter will be very thick. Fold in nuts.

Pour into muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until skewer inserted in center is mostly clean but still damp.

Makes 12 regular muffins, 8 jumbo muffins, or 3 dozen mini muffins.