Just about any quick bread recipe can be used for muffins, and I quickly that was an easy way to add variety to my collection.
The Kona Inn Banana Nut Bread recipe appears in the classic, Fannie Farmer Baking Book. I like this recipe because it isn’t too moist or too sweet. Although, I have modified the recipe to appease my personal taste preferences. I will include the original as well as my additions in the recipe below.
Ingredients:
- 2.5 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- (my addition) 1 teaspoon ginger
- (my addition) 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup vegetable shortening (I use butter)
- 2 cups sugar
- (my addition) 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups mashed ripe bananas
- 4 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients – flour, salt, baking soda, and spices
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy
- Add the eggs, one at a time
- Add the vanilla and bananas.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is thoroughly blended
- Fold in the nuts.
- Pour into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (if using mini muffins)
- Let cool slightly before removing from pan
This recipe makes a LOT of muffins: 5-6 dozen mini muffins, probably 2 dozen regular size. The recipe could easily be halved but…they do freeze well.
This post is a part of BethFishReads’ Weekend Cooking link-up. For more delicious recipes, please visit this weekly blog feature.
Revising Life after 50 
Though not a fan of any banana-flavored item, I’m kind of a fan of the Kona Inn, so this is really interesting. I had no idea that this book would include it. I just checked, though, Marion Cunningham’s version appeared in 1996 and the Kona Inn opened in 1928 — so it makes sense.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
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I am not familiar with the Kona Inn, but if I ever travel to Hawaii, I will definitely check it out 🙂
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This is such a great cookbook — I’ve always liked Marion Cunningham. I’ve never made these muffins, but my husband is a big fan of banana, so I’ll have to add this to the “to-try” list.
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They are yummy – I promise 🙂
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I think I’ve made this recipe, as a quick bread rather than muffins. It’s one my late mother sent to me (I still have the recipe card with her handwriting on it). Thanks for the memory!
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Don’t you love hand-written recipe cards? So much of the personality comes through the handwriting. I love digital, but cherish the memories only a hardcopy can bring to mind.
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Boy, that’s a whole load of muffins! I would have to fll my freezer with them. Cheers
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If you have banana trees, it’s good to collect recipes using them. One of my very oldest recipe cards is for the Queen’s Surf (now defunct restaurant in Honolulu) Banana Muffins, boy are they good; but what’s funny, I just compared recipes and they are exactly the same (except the original calls for butter). My substitutions were 1/2 cup honey for the sugar or cut to 1/2 cup sugar, and added cardamom. I’ve made it many times and only use 1 regular muffin pan.
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I will definitely try this recipe with less sugar next time. And I love the suggestion of using cardamon!
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Banana muffins are always so perfect to grab for breakfast or a snack so having a bunch of the in the freezer is no hardship. 😉 These look delicious. I have not eaten at the Kona Inn in years so these would be a nice treat to make.
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I would love to visit the Kona Inn sometime… whenever I get to Hawaii 🙂
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