Whole Wheat Spiced Brown Butter Banana Muffins with Brown Butter Glaze

Bananas, bananas, bananas …I really feel these are fruits of a very tricky disposition simply because they ripen to random degrees and become unpresentable so rapidly that you could start with a nice bunch of green bananas one day, but be left with an over-ripe yellow or even black colored produce within days. When it comes to grocery shopping for this fruit I am paranoid-ly choosy and never pick up a whole bunch but rather, a couple of ripe ones for the same day, couple of under-ripe ones that will ripen in a day or 2 and so on as I have all these stipulations around how it should taste, feel and even look, since I like them just ripe to a specific degree. LOL !!! I know I sound totally bananas :-) and I guess when you see those loose bananas lying on the grocery shelf, you could hold folks like me accountable ;) 

So what can we do with over ripe bananas??? I try out recipes that call for such ripe fruit and the only effective as well as tasty trick I had up my sleeve until recently was to add it to a Wheat Payasam. Recently though, I tried adding it as an ingredient in my wheat muffins, which turned out so soft  and yummy and with that brown-butter glaze on top, was truly just a nice bit of delicious happiness.  Though none of us at my home are fans of ripe bananas, this was one undoubtedly winning combination that was an instant home-run as soon as it was baked and placed on the table. Hope you all enjoy this as much as we did! 
  
Recipe partially adapted from here

Yields 12 muffins 

  
Ingredients 
2 Cup - Whole-wheat pastry flour 
1 Tsp - Baking soda 
½ Tsp – Baking Powder 
1/4 Tsp - Salt 
1/2 Tsp – Ground Cinnamon 
1/4 Tsp - Nutmeg 
1/4 Tsp - Cardamom 
1 - Egg 
1/3 Cup - Brown sugar 
1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) – Unsalted butter 
2/3 Cup - Milk 
1 1/2 Tsp - Vanilla extract 
3 medium - Ripe bananas, mashed 
  
Directions 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
• Heat a non-stick saucepan over medium-low heat and add butter. 
• Whisk constantly until melted, then continue to whisk as bubbles form, and eventually brown bits appear in the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5-6 minutes in total. As soon as the brown bits appear, remove pan from heat 
• Stir in the mashed banana, followed by vanilla extract and milk, whisking again until smooth. Keep this aside 
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. 
• Set aside. Line a muffin-tin with liners. 
• In a large bowl, whisk egg and brown sugar together until it is smooth and no lumps remain. 
• Gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing until the batter is combined just right. 
• Fill each muffin liner 2/3 of the way full with batter (I use an ice cream scoop to get the muffins to be of equal size). 
• Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until the muffin-tops are no longer wet and turn slightly golden. 
• Remove and let cool until comfortable to the touch. 
• Dip the muffins in the glaze (recipe mentioned below) while they are still warm 

  
Brown Butter Glaze 

Ingredients 
1/4 Cup (1/2 stick) - Unsalted butter 
½ Cup - Powdered sugar 
1/2 Tsp - Vanilla extract 
1 1/2 Tbsp - Milk 

Directions 

• Heat a non-stick saucepan over medium-low heat and add butter. 
• Whisk constantly until melted, then continue to whisk as bubbles form, the butter begins to foam, and eventually brown bits appear in the bottom of the pan. This will take about 5-6 minutes total. As soon as the brown bits appear, remove from heat 
• Let cool for 10 minutes. 
• In a large bowl combine brown butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. 
• Whisk until the mixture comes together then add in 1 tablespoon of milk, continuing to mix 
• Stir for a good 3-4 minutes. 
• If it still doesn’t appear glaze-like, add in milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, and mix again. 
• Don’t worry if it becomes too watery – just add tiny bits of powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. 
• Spoon glaze on warm muffins or dip each muffin-top in the glaze, then serve. 

  
Notes and Tip 

• Do not skip the glaze as this is the most delicious part of this muffin. In case you plan to skip it, do increase the brown sugar in the muffin to ½ cup. 
• Dip the muffins in the glaze while they are still warm

Other Whole Wheat Pastry Flour recipe
Healthy Whole grain Waffles with Blueberry Sauce