*Use over ripe bananas and your leftover ingredients to whip up muffins.*

Do you ever bake a great recipe, then a day or so later realize you have dribbles and drabs of ingredients left over that you’d like to not waste. That happened with me this week after making two rounds of Irish Breads: Irish Brown Bread, and Irish Soda Bread.

I had buttermilk, wheat germ, currants left over from the Irish breads, and an overripe banana that all needed to be finished before they went off.

My solution became these

This and That Muffins (Or Banana, Buttermilk and Currant Muffins).

Oven Preheated to 375 F

Combine Dry Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Wheat Germ
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Currants
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Cloves
1 tablespoon Cinnamon

Combine Wet Ingredients separately:

1 cup Buttermilk
1 Ripe Banana
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg

After stirring the two wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, I put them together in the Stand Mixer, and just combined them. (Overmixing can lead to tough or overly dense textures because it develops too much gluten, the protein in flour, and can also deflate air bubbles).

Then I scooped by large spoonful into oiled muffin pans, and baked for about 20 minutes.

I made this recipe up on the fly and I think they came out really well - I usually would use Siggi’s Whole Milk Yogurt rather than Buttermilk, and probably Almond Flour in place of the Wheat Germ. I also love adding Cocoa Powder and Chocolate Chips with banana and molasses.

To be honest, while I love cookbooks, I also love to cook without using a recipe at all. With baking, great results tend to be more about getting the right consistency of batter and balancing flavors. Room temperatures, ingredient brands, and different types of produce can really have a drastic effect on the way a recipe turns out. As such, sometimes it’s best to make adjustments as you go along.