Plantain Corn Muffins

Happy Birthday  to me!  Yes, today I'm 33 years old.  My family and I have spent a nice mini-vacation away visiting Lancaster, PA.  This has been the first time my husband has been able to take a day off since he started his new job back at the end of May.  While I thought that I'd post something sweet to eat in honor of the occasion I ended up posting this muffin recipe because I'm also linking this recipe up to the Eating the Alphabet Challenge hosted by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic.  I needed to make some more muffins for the week and I thought, why not try something new.  I've cooked with plantains a couple of times now, so they're not totally unfamiliar to me or the family.  The kids like them, probably because they taste similar to a banana.  I have to admit that the so-so rating of the recipe was probably my own fault.  I looked for the ripest plantains that the grocery store had.  However, I forgot how thick the skin of the plantain is and when I opened up the plantain, it wasn't nearly as soft as I hoped it would be.  I tried mashing it, but it was still hard and pretty chunky when it went in the batter.  Unfortunately, the kids (and I!) didn't enjoy plantain chunks in our muffins.  I think we all would have preferred these if they were smoother and less chunky.

Plantain Corn Muffins
recipe from allrecipes.com by Pixelsicle

Yield: 15 muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup mashed, ripe plantains
2 large eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:
1.Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 15 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2.Stir the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Whisk the milk, plantains, eggs, oil, and butter together in a separate bowl. Mix the flour mixture into the milk mixture until just combined; do not over mix. Allow the mixture sit at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into prepared muffin cups to about 2/3 full.

3.Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 15 to 18 minutes.

Family Rating: So-so.