Banana Cream Cheese Nut Muffins

I like to bake muffins for a quick grab-n-go breakfast in the morning. It's hard to get my kids to eat anything before school - I guess they take after me in that respect. I never ate breakfast when I was in school. Yet, I've read all of the studies that say breakfast is "brain fuel" and that it has been proven that kids do better in school when they eat breakfast. I've found that if I mix it up and don't allow the foods to become a routine, they will grab something and eat it. Case in point, these banana cream cheese nut muffins.

You can't bribe my daughter into eating a banana right out of the peel. Once in a great while my son will eat one. I love bananas and since I've been craving some banana bread, I decided to try a banana bread recipe that I've had for a while, making muffins instead of bread. The recipe is from a Southern Living mag from 2005.

One of Alexis' favorite things to do is stick her finger in the batter of whatever I am making. She has to taste it. When she realized that I was making banana muffins, you should've seen her face. She thought that I had ruined the whole experience for her. Her curiosity got the better of her, though, so she had to taste the batter. It was SO good! The combination of cream cheese, bananas, sugar and ground pecans worked for her! I was shocked that she was raving over the batter. Even better, she ate a whole muffin right out of the oven. My son also loved them. He had two as soon as I took them out of the oven.

Here's the original recipe with only one slight change in bold.

Banana Cream Cheese Nut Muffins

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 - 8 oz- cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas - about
4 medium
1 c. chopped pecans, toasted - I used 1 c. ground pecans
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Directions


Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake at 350* for 25 minutes. (*Note* - my muffins only baked for 20 minutes.)

Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Makes 24 large muffins.