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.

Around the World: Oven Baked Sweet Plantains

Our family has had plantains, prepared as both sweet plantains and tostones from a local Puerto Rican eatery.  I have only made them a couple of times though.  Yes, the ingredient list for this recipe couldn't get any simpler.  Plantains and cooking spray, that's it.  While I was slicing the plantains up, my kids wanted to know what I was cutting.  They thought they were bananas.  I told them that they were plantains and that they were similar to bananas.  It wasn't until now that when I checked Wikipedia that I discovered there is no formal botanical  distinction between bananas and plantains.  The difference is how they are consumed, where bananas are usually eaten uncooked and plantains are usually cooked.  Regardless, my kids were eating the raw plantain slices up like there was no tomorrow.  I had to tell them to stop so that I would have enough for dinner!  Unfortunately, these plantains were ready before the chicken and rice were.  I snuck a taste right after they came out of the oven and they were crunchy and delicious!  By the time I got around to actually eating some with dinner they had gotten cold and chewy.  While my son still loved them my daughter wasn't a fan of the plantains once they were cooked.  I would definitely think about making these again but would make sure that I eat them right after they came out of the oven!

Oven Baked Sweet Plantains
recipe from food.com

Ingredients:
4 very ripe plantains (yellow skin with spots of black)
cooking spray

Directions:
1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 Coat a nonstick cookie sheet with cooking spray.

3 Cut the ends off of the plantains and peel.

4 Cut each plantain on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices.

5 Arrange in single layer and coat tops with cooking spray.

6 Bake, turning occasionally, for 10-15 minutes, until plantains are golden brown and very tender.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.