When Life Gives You Bananas

The other morning I woke up early, or earlier than usual. Some mornings I just get the feeling that I want to bake something. Whether it’s a batch of cookies or something else that needs to get used up, there’s a good feeling in taking ingredients and combining them into something that others will enjoy.

On this morning, that was one of those occasions. I came downstairs and noticed that the bananas we had bought at the store were on their way past eating into the land of baking. This leads me to the reason for today’s blog post which more than just because I like banana muffins. I wrote this post to explore how the same item/opportunity/client/etc. can present different possibilities at different times and how we need to be able to adapt to these changes.

Bananas are one of those things that are great in a lot of different ways depending on the time that you utilize them. As a runner bananas are a great source of potassium. Unlike most other types of fruit bananas actually sweeten as they ripen. As I understand it, as bananas ripen the starches are broken down into sugars making them perfect for baking but not as great for eating. So depending on when you utilize them they are effective in very different but very versatile culinary uses.

An added benefit to bananas for a baker like me is that they also freeze really well. This gives you the ability to delay the use and kind of suspend the looming deadline. One strategy that business people use is to delay having to make decisions until one has to be made. Anyone who is in business will tell you that options give you power and can also reduce stress in making decisions. In my case, I had a sales meeting that morning so it seemed like a good time to use the bananas so it worked out well. An added benefit to baking the muffins is that it made the house smell amazing! Below is the recipe I used with a couple tweaks based on my personal taste. Enjoy the recipe and good luck with the bananas in your life and business!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and set aside. Beat eggs, add milk (or cream as I did), mashed bananas, and oil. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Here’s the trick though, don’t mix too much. It was explained to me by my mom when learning to cook that (like making pancakes) mixing too much lets the CO2 out of the baking power. This creates dense pucks instead of muffins. Mix until incorporated and then spoon into pre-sprayed muffin tins until about ¾ full. I prefer to not use muffin wrappers but to each his/her own. Bake for 18-20 minutes until slightly golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean. Remove immediately from the pan to a wire rack. This recipe should yield about 12 muffins.