? cup white (granulated) sugar
cup all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
? cup softened butter (? stick, 2 ounces)
Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan (or line the cups with double cupcake papers—that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar.)
Mix the melted butter with the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat until they’re thoroughly combined.
Add the eggs and beat on low until they’re incorporated.
Sprinkle in the baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Beat them in at LOW speed.
Put one Tablespoon of flour in a baggie with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries and leave them in the bag for now.
Add half of the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour and the milk, and mix thoroughly.
Measure out one cup of the thawed frozen banana.
Add the cup of banana to your muffin batter. Stir it in thoroughly.
Hannah’s 1st Note: If there’s any banana left over, save it in a covered container in the refrigerator to add to pancakes in the morning. It may turn dark overnight, but that doesn’t matter. The kids will love the taste, especially if you also add a few chocolate chips to your pancake batter when you put it in the frying pan!
Fold the frozen or fresh blueberries into your muffin batter. Mix gently so the blueberries will stay intact.
Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have any batter left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bread loaf pan and fill it with your remaining batter.
To make the Crumb Topping, mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.)
Fill the remaining space in the muffin cups with the crumb topping.
Bake your muffins in a 375 F. degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (The tea-bread should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)
When your muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. (The muffins need to cool in the pan for easy removal.) Then just tip them out of the cups and enjoy.
These are wonderful when they’re slightly warm, but the banana and blueberry flavors will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: To freeze bananas for baking or drinks, buy perfectly ripe bananas, peel them, cut them into 2 pieces and place the pieces into a closeable plastic sandwich bag. Bag all the bananas you want to freeze this way. When you have as many as you want, slip the sandwich bags into a large freezer bag and stick them in your freezer. Freeze them solid before using them, but they can be stored in your freezer for as long as 6 months.
To thaw frozen bananas, take out as many as you need, extract them from the sandwich bag and place the frozen pieces in a bowl on your counter. Cover the bowl and let it warm for twenty to thirty minutes. Your bananas will turn to banana puree all by themselves without benefit of food processor or blender. Stir them up, measure out what you need, and use them for baking or for blended drinks.
Chapter Twenty-eight
It was their practice session before the final challenge, and they were working in Sally’s kitchen. The stove timer rang, and Hannah removed both pies from the oven and set them on a rack to cool. Their section of the kitchen smelled so good, her mouth was watering.
“What do you think?” she asked Michelle. “The top crust pie, or the French crumble pie?”
“Both. Let’s give the judges a little slice of both pies. It shows your versatility.”
“Good idea. How about the toppings?” Hannah pointed to the tray Michelle had prepared with slices of sharp cheddar cheese, the vanilla ice cream that Michelle had made in the ice cream maker, and Hannah’s Cinnamon Crème Fraiche.
“Serve all three on the tray and let them choose. Do you want to taste my ice cream?”
“You betcha!”
Michelle laughed and dished up a scoop for Hannah. She waited until Hannah had tasted it and then she asked, “Is it good enough?”
“I don’t know. I’d have to eat at least a gallon to be sure.” She waited until Michelle laughed and then she did, too. “It’s wonderful, Michelle! And I wasn’t kidding about eating more. I could sit down right here and eat the whole gallon.”
“Then it’s a go for the final challenge?”
“I think we’ve done the right thing, Michelle. Your ice cream is phenomenal and Mom’s Apple Pie is the best pie I make.”
“That’s true, as long as you don’t count your Lemon Meringue, or your Key Lime Pie, or any of the other pies you bake.”