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The Ina Garten banana muffins recipe takes an ordinary muffin and gives it a Barefoot Contessa kick, with a crunch that comes from some unusual ingredients. Find out the delicious additions that the Food Network star includes in her muffin recipe.

Ina Garten during 'Seth Goes Day Drinking with Ina Garten' on Late Night With Seth Meyers
‘Barefoot Contessa’ Ina Garten on ‘Late Night With Seth Meyers’ | Lloyd Bishop/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Ina Garten recommends entertaining for breakfast

Garten loves to make these muffins as part of a Sunday breakfast, which she finds is a great time to entertain guests. “Everybody’s got lots of energy and when the party’s over, you still have the whole day ahead of you,” she explained on her Barefoot Contessa cooking show.

“One of the key things though is you want to have lots of recipes you can make in advance,” she continued. “Nobody wants to get up at 4 a.m.”

“One of the things I learned at Barefoot Contessa is that you can make the muffin mix the night before and then just scoop them and bake them the day of the party,” Garten added. “It made it so much easier you don’t have to get up at 6:00 in the morning to make muffins.”

Ina Garten banana muffins recipe adds a crunchy topping

The Barefoot Contessa banana crunch muffins recipe has some delicious additions, including a topping that adds a next-level texture to your typical muffin. (The recipe can be found on The Food Network website.)

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 extra-large eggs
  • ¾ cup whole milk
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
  • 1 cup medium-diced ripe bananas (1 banana)
  • 1 cup small-diced walnuts
  • 1 cup granola
  • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
  • Dried banana chips, granola, or shredded coconut, optional
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together and add to an electric mixer. Combine the melted butter, eggs, milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl and then add the mixture to the flour, mixing at low speed. Avoid overmixing so the muffins don’t come out too dense.

The batter can be refrigerated at this point and finished later. When ready to bake, add the bananas to the batter. Garten uses both mashed bananas and a chopped banana (“for texture”) to the batter and adds walnuts, granola, and coconut — then folds it all together.

Brush the top of the muffin tin with oil to prevent the muffins from sticking. Scoop the batter into the muffin liners with an ice cream scoop and top each with broken up dried banana chips, granola, or coconut, if desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool slightly and serve. Makes 18 muffins.

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