Honey Cardamom Banana Bread

Not to brag, but over the years I've become famous (in the inner circle, at least) for creating a top notch banana bread recipe. What really makes the compliments meaningful to me is that the recipe has been passed on and tried by a lot of people, with huge success. I can fiddle with a lot of things and make them taste good, but being able to pass a recipe to someone and have him/her get great results without my watching? That makes me proud!

Not to be a tease, but after years of success with the old recipe I decided today to mix things up with an easier, more portable, healthier, nuttier and more heavily spiced version of the old favorite. It turned out very light and fluffy, so give it a try!

for 10 large muffins, or 12-14 cupcake sized muffins.

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup light olive oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with liners.

Sift together all the dry ingredients in a medium or large bowl and set aside. In a mixing cup, combine the honey, olive oil, and eggs. To create less of a mess, I use one measuring cup, measure half a cup of honey, then pour in olive oil until the entire mixture measures one cup, and then add the two eggs and whisk it all in the same cup. I know, so smart (eyeroll).

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, then whisk together starting from the center and slowly incorporating the dry ingredients into the mix. Add the bananas and walnuts and mix to combine.

Fill the muffin tins to about half full if you want your muffins to look like mine, and 3/4th full if you want a taller muffin. Bake for 25-40 minutes until the tops are browned and slightly cracked, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. NOTE: my times may be different from yours based on how large your muffin tins are and how much you fill them. Start checking on your muffins every 5 minutes after the 15 minute mark.