Grandma's Banana Muffins

For as long as I can remember, my mom has made the best banana muffins. They make the house smell SO yummy while they are baking, and I could never resist sampling one from the batch set out to cool on the counter. I don't know what it is about them, but they are crunchy on the outside and moist on the inside and just perfect.

See? Perfection.

When I started baking my own banana muffins I was always disappointed in them. They just weren't the same. I figured a banana muffin recipe was a banana muffin recipe, but I was sorely mistaken. All muffin recipes are not created equal, people. So I finally asked my mom for hers (what took me so long?). It turns out she has been baking her banana muffins forever from her yellowed, splattered, dog-eared and battered copy of the Feed Me I'm Yours Cookbook that she got when I was a baby. Love it! I don't know why I wasted my time on any other recipe, but I do know that this little guy can't get enough of them:

Mmm, what is this goodness on my tray?

Score! Banana muffin!

They are finger-lickin' good.

Hmmm...how can I get more?

Banana Muffins

From the Feed Me I'm Yours Cookbook, Copyright 1974 (no, I am not that old)

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 cup uncooked oatmeal

4 mashed ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Cream shortening and sugar until light. Add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Add oatmeal and bananas and mix well. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl and add to the wet mixture, stirring just enough to moisten. Pour into muffin cups and bake at 375 for 20 - 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Enjoy!