Banana Yogurt Muffins

Fall is here in Rome. Our days are still sunny and warm, but our evenings are cool and the weather is, in my opinion, at its finest for the year. Gone are the strings of endless summer weeks where we see nothing but glaring sunshine. Not that I am complaining about sunshine! But after several months of it, I welcome the days when grey clouds roll in and cover a dry and dusty Rome with rain and the occasional thunderstorm. It's refreshing, and that time has arrived! Which can mean only one thing. It's officially cooking and baking season. There's nothing like cranking up the oven on a chilly afternoon and filling the house with the smell of baked goods, or slow simmering a big pot of homemade soup all day long.

We have a visitor arriving this afternoon for a few days, so this morning I decided to make a batch of muffins to have on hand for breakfasts. Our slightly bare cupboards provided a bit of a challenge, but after scraping together a few ingredients and combining a couple different recipe ideas (thank you Google!) I came up with these little beauties. I am trying to cut down on cooking with butter and oil, so this recipe uses Greek yogurt and a reduced amount of oil. They still turned out moist and delicious and the house still smells fantastic!

Banana Yogurt Muffins

Dry Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
2 cups wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients

1 cup greek yogurt (I used plain. Vanilla would work well too.)
1 egg
2 tablespoons low fat milk
2 tablespoons oil (I used lemon olive oil, which I had on hand, and it was a nice touch. Vegetable or canola, or plain olive oil would do.)
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the walnuts and mix well. In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients except the banana and mix until smooth.

Stir wet mixture into dry mixture to combine. Do not over mix.

Stir in mashed banana and chopped walnuts.

Fill muffin cups 3/4 full (If you are like me, you'll use silicone baking cups. I have seen the light and will never go back to muffin tins!)

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.