Banana Brickle Muffins

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day weekend. I went to my first USC tailgate, actually my first tailgate ever, on Saturday before the game with Minnesota. It was nice to have some school spirit, wear our Trojan gear, play some beer pong and flip cup, and stuff my face with junk food.

I didn’t want to come empty handed to the tailgate so I decided to bake some muffins. I know muffins aren’t exactly tailgating food but it was the only option I could think of. It was midnight the night before and my only other options were to bake cookies, which take too long, or pick up store-bought donuts or bagels so I chose to go with the muffins, not only because it was a better choice but probably because I was a bit biased with my muffin obsession. Now this was the perfect muffin recipe since it took less than an hour to make (which includes the prep work, the baking, and the clean up!) and I got to use up my brown bananas in my fruit bowl, which seemed to attract so many annoying fruit flies. Plus, everyone seemed to enjoy these homemade banana muffins that oozed with melted toffee bits. See, muffins can be tailgating food after all!

Banana Brickle Muffins (adapted from Camilla Saulsbury in 750 Best Muffin Recipes):

Yields 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup toffee baking bits

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a 12-cup standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. (If you don’t want to use paper liners, you could coat a muffin pan with cooking spray instead.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.