Walnut-Banana Muffins

§ PROCEDURE

1. Toast the walnuts: spread all 170 g of walnuts on a small baking tray and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 8–10 minutes until fragrant and lightly golden. Let cool completely, then chop roughly.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) if not already on. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
3. Mash the bananas with a fork until smooth with no large chunks remaining. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks, and 210 g brown sugar until well combined. Add 40 g molasses, 80 g oil, 100 g heavy cream, 280 g yoghurt, and 1 tsp vanilla extract. Add the mashed bananas. Whisk everything together until fully incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together 340 g flour, 1½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tbsp baking powder, and ½ tsp baking soda until evenly distributed.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture. Mix with a spatula until almost combined — a few streaks of flour are fine at this stage.
7. Add 120 g of the chopped toasted walnuts. Fold gently into the batter until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
8. Distribute the batter evenly among the 12 muffin liners. Scatter the remaining 50 g of chopped toasted walnuts across the tops.
9. Bake for 30 minutes. Test doneness by inserting a wooden skewer into the center of a muffin — it should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. If it comes out wet, bake for 3–5 more minutes and test again.
10. Let the muffins cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Let them cool before eating — they set further as they cool.

§ OBSERVED RESULT

The muffins dome slightly above the liner with a deep brown crown. The interior crumb is moist and dense, with the banana and molasses integrated throughout rather than concentrated in any single area. The toasted walnut pieces folded into the batter hold their texture inside the crumb. The walnut topping adds a crunchy contrast to the soft muffin beneath. Earth specimens reached for a second before finishing the first. I recorded this.