Blueberry Banana Muffins

It seems these days the more I bake, the more I want to bake. I never thought this would happen to me since before now, I only baked out of necessity and never for enjoyment. Now I get urges to bake, this is new to me and I like it. This urge came on strong yesterday, all of a sudden I needed to bake blueberry muffins (no I'm not with child.) Another first for me is that when the craving to bake arises, I seem to always have everything I need on hand. I've never had a fully stocked baking pantry at my disposal and again, I like it.

I'm always nervous when baking muffins for some reason, like I'm worried they'll fall flat or turn out like hockey pucks or something tragic. These muffins turned out so great. I got the recipe from joyofbaking.com which is a must have reference for anyone who loves to bake. I am thrilled about my new found adoration for baking especially considering I never imagined this day would come. There is something so satisfying about the whole precision and structure of it all. Could it be that I'm actually starting to embrace following the rules? Well...I wouldn't go that far.

RECIPE:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries or strawberries (cut into small pieces)
2 1/4 cups grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Position rack in center of oven. Line the muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or a vegetable spray. Set aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and mashed banana. Add the melted butter to the brown sugar mixture and stir to combine. In another large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold in the berries, making sure they are coated with flour. This helps to prevent the berries from sinking during baking. Do not over mix or the blueberries will end up coloring the batter blue. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are just combined. Do not over mix the batter or tough muffins will result. Fill each muffin cup about two thirds full of batter, using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Fill any unused muffin cups halfway with water to prevent warping of the pan and/or over browning of the muffins. Place in the oven and bake until a tester inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 12 regular sized muffins.