Banana-rama

Banana Muffins
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tbsp espresso or strong coffee (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup of flour
1 cup chopped walnuts (toasted or raw)

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
2 Large eggs
3 very ripe bananas, mashed(1.25 cups)
2/3 cup sour cream or yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
21/4 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts(optional)
1 cup chocolate chips

Keeping bananas can be a pain. They're green when you buy them at the grocery store, and before you can finish the bunch they're black mush! We bought way too many bananas last week, so now we have 10 decaying bananas in our pantry. You know what that means? Banana bread time, of course!

It's been a while since I've made muffins, so I'm giving a new banana muffin recipe with espresso a whirl, but it only calls for 3-4 bananas. So what to do with the rest? My mom reminded me of a tasty banana chocolate chip cake she makes that's sooo good. So I'm doing bananas two ways-for breakfast AND dessert! Making two different confections in one night (while putting dinner together) won't be easy, and will require major multi-tasking!

First the muffins:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Melt butter. With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.
3. Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla.
4. Add the baking soda and salt to the mixture.
5. Add the flour, mix until it is just incorporated.
6. Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Then the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy
3. Add eggs,bananas,sour cream, vanilla
4. Whisk together flour ,baking powder,baking soda, and salt in medium bowl
5. Add flour mixture to sour cream mixture
6. Stir in chocolate chips
7. Pour into greased baking pan
8. Bake 45 minutes or until tester comes out clean.