Banana Bread Muffins

I can’t seem to get enough banana bread, and I especially love banana muffins. These are perfect for an on-the-go breakfast (or a lazy leisurely one too, with a mug of tea or warm milk), and they make a great snack any time of day. Even better, the flavor and texture improve overnight, so you can make them in advance and enjoy them for a few days (if they last that long).

This recipe is a slightly adapted version of my great-grandma Florence Robinson Beck’s (1905-1998) banana bread. (Mainly, I took her bread recipe and turned it into muffins instead.) It yields muffins that are light and moist (not soggy or dense), with fabulous banana bread flavor. I made these with all-purpose flour, but you could substitute whole wheat flour and no one would be the wiser.

Florence was known for her baking and even taught cooking classes as well as teaching Home Economics and English for her employment after graduating from BYU. She received her degree from Brigham Young University in Clothing and Textiles, with a minor in Art, and she used her skills creatively at home as well as professionally. These were lifelong interests, and one of Florence’s earliest memories, she told her daughter, Janet Beck Clark, was at the age of three, sitting with her mother Nellie in the window of their big home in Springville, UT, helping her sew quilt blocks together. Janet later inherited that quilt. Like many girls of that time, Florence grew up sewing and cooking for her family, so she was proficient by the time she began college. Her children all appreciated her cooking and the expertly hand-tailored clothing she would make for them growing up.

Florence was also frugal and practical to the core. She met her future husband, D. Eldon Beck, while enrolled in a Zoology class at BYU, where he was the lab instructor. Their courtship lasted for years, even after she graduated and became a teacher. Eldon went on to get his doctorate degree from Iowa State University, and Florence eventually joined him and worked on a doctorate as well. It was only after Eldon graduated that she agreed to marry him in 1933. Decades later, a niece asked her why, if she loved him, did she wait so long to marry him? Florence’s emphatic response was, “He didn’t have a job! I was making more than he was.” What a perfect illustration of her determined, patient, and practical nature. It also shows how highly she valued education.

Here’s the recipe.

Note: If you want to make banana bread instead of muffins, then grease a large loaf pan (or two smaller pans) and lightly dust it with sugar. Bake the loaf at 350 degrees for about an hour, or until a tester inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.