Mini Banana Bread Muffins

One of the challenges of the school year is packing healthy, fun snacks for kids. Now, I don’t want to turn kids into a serial snackers, of course, I never want snacks to replace their actual meal. But some kids need to have a snack to take snack to school every day and some really need a mid-afternoon munchie to hold them over until dinner. So here's a wonderful snack idea that I personally love: mini banana bread muffins. You could make them with chocolate chips, other times by stirring in chopped walnuts instead of chocolate chips. You could also use some tiny bits of chopped ginger or even dried cranberries, it sounds good but I haven't personally tried to make it with them yet. Oh, the possibilities!

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 small bananas, mashed with a fork
• 1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional) or walnuts (for adults)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. 
2. Line a mini-muffin tin with paper liners or rub each muffin cup with butter and set aside.
3. In a small bowl mix the flour, nutmeg, and salt, and set side.
4. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. 
5. Add the egg and bananas and mix well. 
6. Then add the dissolved baking soda and mix again.
7. With the mixer on low slowly add in the flour and mix until it is no longer visible. (If you are using chocolate chips or walnuts (or both) stir them in with a wooden spoon.)
8. Scoop the mixture into the muffin cups until each one is half full.
9. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and spring back lightly with when touched. (Allow to cool before serving!)