Whole Wheat Banana Spice Muffins with Brown Butter Glaze.
I do I do I do.
Probably a little too well… especially after he delivered these muffins.
If you know what I mean.
I’m also blaming the muffin man for making me drive to my parents’ house last night to eat Easter leftovers where I proceeded to pour gravy over my turkey-filled CROISSANT. Oh wait, CROISSANTS. Croissants with an “s.” I had two. This may rival the whole gravy on french fries things. What I did can only be described as pouring salty fat on top of layers of butter.
And the worst part is that now? It’s all I ever want to eat for the rest of my life. I see no problem here.
You know what? I succeed at taking something fairly healthy and dousing it in brown butter or a delicious brown butter-like substance. Right?
Embrace it. It’s the easiest solution.
It’s not going anywhere.
The good news is that I fly through bananas like whoa. Healthy stuff! As one of my favorite fruits, the fact that they sit out on the counter directly in my line of vision – since I spend my entire life inside the walls of my kitchen – only helps their cause. Maybe if I could leave spinach or broccoli or something else green sitting out on the counter I’d eat more of it? Because we all know that my crisper drawer is where produce goes… to DIE.
So if you don’t feel like making muffins I am here to tell you that it’s totally appropriate to whip together some brown butter glaze and lick it off a spoon. That’s what I’m for: your sanity.
Whole Wheat Banana Spice Muffins
makes 12 muffins
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 large egg
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside. Line a muffin tin with liners.
In a large bowl, whisk egg and brown sugar together until smooth and no lumps remain. Add in vanilla extract, butter and milk, whisking again until smooth, then stir in mashed bananas. Gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Fill each muffin liner 2/3 of the way full with batter (I use a 1/4 cup measure to get the muffins to be of equal size).
Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until tops are no longer wet and become slightly golden. Remove and let cool until comfortable to the touch.
Brown Butter Glaze
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Heat a small 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. I always stir for an additional 30 seconds or so. 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. I always stir my glazes for a good 3-4 minutes so they really come together. 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 liquidy – just add a tiny bit of powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Spoon glaze on warm muffins or dip each top in the glaze, then serve.
Chocolate chips also aren’t terrible when studded inside. Just a thought.
99 Comments on “Whole Wheat Banana Spice Muffins with Brown Butter Glaze.”
Can I just eat a bowl of the brown butter glaze??
Sounds delicious and looks amazing, thank you!!
Amazing!! How do you come up with these combinations! Love the combo of the sweet banana with the savory spices.
Oh yum! This is exactly what I want for breakfast right now.
p.s. Fries and gravy is nothin’ – you haven’t eaten fatty food until you’ve had a good poutine. Now that is some serious fat content but oh so delicious. You must try one. I just know you will love it.
When you asked if I knew the Muffin Man, I got a flashback to the movie Shrek. Just thought you should know.
They look amazing and only half healthy! :)
I love the Brown Butter glaze! The muffins look so darn good! I would love one with my coffee right now!!
Oh my word! Can I come over and have one of these for breakfast right now?!?!?
This is perfect for this girl! Game on—– I love the healthy’ish aspect, but I’m loving your chocolate chip idea at the bottom. Yep, good call!
I love the muffin man.
I will take 14 of these please. Brown butter is the cure to basically everything in my life.
Oooh good call on the chocolate chips! And licking the spoon too… wouldn’t want to let any of that brown butter go to waste, right? ;) These sound awesome!
I’ve been craving banana bread or muffins love these!
I know the muffin top – is that close? I bet that cardamon in the muffins and the brown butter in the glaze makes these muffins tingle-inducing!
Do you know the muffin man? I also had a flashback to Shrek! Gah…I love that movie! I will only eat a banana if it’s greenish yellow (barely ripe). Once it turns dark yellow and starts to speckle- yuck! So, needless to say I end up with lots of over-ripe bananas in my freezer. This muffin looks drool worthy and the perfect recipe to use up some of those bananas!
I think we’ve discussed this but that is the only way my husband will eat bananas too!
yum yum yum. I happen to have two ripe bananas in my fruit bowl….umm baking is necessary today? I think so
I want these muffins right now. Seriously.
I don’t know the muffin man yet but I have a feeling I will…very soon.
Yummy! This weekend at Easter brunch I had eggs benedict with a brown butter hollandaise sauce, and it was delicious…maybe that should be your next brown butter recipe?
Those looks absolutely incredible. I adore the second to last photo with the glaze running down!
The muffin by itself looks great, but adding the warm melted butter glaze to it really makes the sale! I definitely have a weakness for butter especially on sweet, cinnamony muffins or breads, so your pictures made me crave this recipe. Beautiful!
“Whole grain” means you can eat more of them, right? For the fiber? =)
i could go for one of these with my coffee right about now. looks warm and wonderful.
Brown butter glaze sounds fantastic!!! :D
Sounds like the perfect match.
But I’d really love to start my day off having a turkey croissant with gravy. Yes, I’ll take two of those, also.
you had me at bananas…then, I saw brown butter and I died. Then I had to pick myself up off the floor to actually read the post! Oh, turkey crossaints sound ah-mazing! Normally I don’t eat bananas unless they are in a muffin, bread, or a cake of some sort…but I would gladly eat a plain banana dipped in that brown butter glaze…maybe with a drizzle of chocolate too!
I need these! Loving that glaze!
I love brown butter. I love muffins. I love bananas. Perfection!
I’m all about muffins since the orange almond meal recipe I made on Sunday. These look + sound outstanding! As do gravy + croissants! Brown butter glaze…killing me!
These muffins look and sound delicious!
that shot above the recipe makes me want to cry out of sheer happiness!
I pretty much love banana in any way…and am adoring this combination with spices and browned butter!
But umm…what is a turkey croissant?! Sounds incredible. I’m randomly missing Thanksgivingy food over the last week…
These look absolutely amazing! Another keeper!!! :)
These look delishhhhh!
Just that glaze, right there, this recipe is perfect and can do no wrong. I’ll take a bowl of that with my side of muffin :)
I want to bathe in that brown butter glaze. And then lick myself clean. Is that wrong? I don’t really care. Liiiiiiick!
Brown Butter Glaze?!? I will take a bowl with a straw, please.
I just used my last 2 bananas on the 2nd loaf of your best ever banana bread!! I will definitely try this recipe very soon though!!
Every.single.morning I make a smoothie with 1 banana, Greek yogurt and OJ. Sometimes I get crazy and add honey. I lead an exciting life as you can tell. Can’t wait to mix things up a little and try these instead :)
I like glaze on my muffins any day, all day. YES!
you had me at brown butter glaze. done and done.
I don’t know the muffin man :( Maybe you could introduce me to him (or her) so that I can have one of these handheld pieces of heaven!
That glaze! I could eat so many of these right now.
Peanut butter chips inside of these may be even better…
Mmm, that drippy drippy glaze needs to be my new best friend.
Hmmh this looks so delicious
h.o.l.y.c.ow. just made these and they are the best banana muffins I´ve ever had! And the brown butter glaze is something that only could have been made in heaven, seriously, God made it….or Jessica….you must be a heavenly creature!
I made brown butter for the first time this weekend and from now on I´ll be stuffing my face with it weekly (meaning daily…).
thank you Jessica!
I just want to eat a huge bowl of this glaze! haha
These look like heaven :D
Ooh I bet the chocolate chips would be an amazing addition, as well. Yummm!!!