blaspheme banana bread

So I'm going to commit a bit of blaspheme here.

You see, next to my mom's recipes, Mel's Kitchen Cafe is pretty much my go to recipe Bible. I think I probably make at least one of her recipes a week. This week I've already made two: Salsa Verde Tostadas (on white corn tortillas instead of flour to take down the carbs, oh they are so yum!) and The Best Sloppy Joes (I had mine on wheat bread). Her recipes are great because they're easy but always so delicious, and she genuinely tries to make things as healthy as they can be. I also respect her writing skills, to be perfectly honest. My sister and I are a little obsessed with her and often argue who's really her best friend. (Neither of us have met her or even know her at all.) 

One of my favorite recipes is the Buttermilk Banana Bread. It is seriously the best banana bread I've ever had. But The Sour Cream Banana Bread comes in at a close second. And here's where the blaspheme occurs: I modified a Mel recipe.

I'm so ashamed.

I've been desperate for some sort of treat or bread or something other than grass for dessert, so for the past few weeks I've been tweaking her Sour Cream Banana Bread recipe.

I hope she'll still be my friend.

I would've tweaked the Buttermilk Banana Bread, but that would be totally sacrosanct. (And I don't customarily have buttermilk on hand.) If you're not watching your carbs, just go with her original recipes. If you want a "healthy" banana bread, this really is pretty good. Here she is, with my modifications (note the asterisks): 

Whole Wheat Sour Cream Banana Muffins

3/4 cup sugar*
1/2 cup (no sugar added) applesauce
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3 ripe bananas)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla**
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour***
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat oven to 350 degrees. I always make muffins - that way I avoid the whole doughy middle of the loaf problem and they're great to take on the go for Annabelle. Grease muffin pan or use muffin liners. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and applesauce. Add eggs, bananas, sour cream and vanilla; blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Add flour, mixing until just moistened.*** Add baking soda and salt. Pour into prepared muffin tins. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes**** or until the tops just barely turn brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely. Makes about twelve muffins.*****

*The original recipe calls for one cup of sugar. I tweak this and modify it all the time. Using 3/4 (or less) a cup will make a less sweet muffin, but the applesauce also adds some sweetness. Additionally, you can use Splenda or a mix of sugar and Splenda. I know there's a body of controversy regarding Splenda - and sugar for that matter - so I'll just say that I do both methods, depending on who will be consuming the muffins.

**For a different taste, substitute almond extract for the vanilla. Yum.

***Wheat flour makes a thicker batter, and the thickness of the batter will also depend on the size and amount of banana you used. Don't dump all the flour in at once. Mix until the batter is somewhere between runny and thick. It should still pour easily, and not in big ol' clumps.

****I should be honest here and mention that I never use a timer when I cook and bake. I use my nose. But I think it's about twenty minutes.

*****I also regularly half this recipe. It makes about six muffins.