Banana Muffins

So we've been buying a lot of bananas lately. Why? I'm not entirely sure, except for the banana and peanut butter snacks I've made a lot. The other reason could be that we've let our 5 month old son eat a little bit of mashed banana. He has started to try to eat our food. He's not quite ready for solids as he tends to thrust his tongue when he eats, but I feel that I'm getting him ready to eat solid foods. Where was I? Oh yeah, bananas.

So I like my bananas a little under-ripe. My husband likes them perfectly ripe (I think they are a little over-ripe, but hey, we all have our own tastes, right?) The problem is that perfectly ripe with bananas only lasts for 2-3 days tops. So I have been taking the bananas that are too ripe for my husband and putting them in the freezer to make banana bread with. I ended up making banana mini-muffins.
I really like mini-muffins, they make me happy. I don't know why, but I enjoy them more than normal sized muffins. Hubby doesn't like nuts in his muffins/bread which is something I deal with, I do sometimes still put nuts in them anyway, because I like it. This time I didn't put nuts in the muffins, so this is a nut-less banana muffin recipe. I did however use stone ground whole wheat flour (for half of the flour) and wheat germ, it gives it a nice texture.

Banana Muffins

Preheat oven to 350°F. Does anybody else skip this step at the beginning of recipes and then wish they would have remembered while they wait to put their food in the oven? (Or do you just put it in your un-preheated oven like I do?)
In a medium mixing bowl, beat 1/2 cup (1 cube) margarine/butter and 1-1/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for about 1 minute.
The butter-sugar mix should be light and fluffy. If you're like me at this point, you'll snitch a bite or two.
Add 2 eggs and mix until combined.
Beat in 3 cups mashed banana (best if use over-ripe bananas). Yes I know the mashed bananas do not look appetizing. The end product does though!
Mix in 1 Tbsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp ground allspice.Add 1-1/2 cup all purpose flour, 1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour, and 1/3 cup wheat germ; mix until combined.
Then you should have a batter that looks like this... the finished product looks much better!
Spoon batter into greased mini-muffin cups (I use 1/2-1 Tbsp filling per cup).
Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes (If making regular-sized muffins, bake for 18-20 minutes.)

Cool in muffin tins until cool enough to handle, transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely or serve immediately.
Store cooled muffins in airtight container.

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