I must lose track of who I am at the grocery store. At the grocery store I’m a person who grabs a bunch of nearly ripe bananas and puts them in my cart with a pat on my own back. And I’m a person who walks past that very bunch of bananas for a week until they’re far more spotted than yellow basically begging to become a last ditch smoothie. I think I’m a person who eats bananas but I’m wrong every time. Thankfully, I am the person who will mash, slice, dice and bake with the bananas I’ve forsaken which redeems most of my bad behavior.
Just last weekend, as a spotted banana begged for inclusion in sooooomething I thought – WAITAMINUTE, these bananas would be perfect in my Williams Sonoma mixes which brings us right to this moment where I offer inspiration from my pantry to yours.
First things first, you’ll need either the Blueberry Pancake Muffins or the Chocolate Espresso Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting.
These are our two most popular mixes with good reason. The muffins bake up golden with truly so many plump blueberries, topped with a crunchy maple sugar that makes the muffins taste like pancakes (and wonderfully, McDonalds pancakes, no less).
The chocolate cake is soft, tender, and made that much better with a hint of espresso and a glorious amount of creamy peanut butter frosting. Classic sweets, to be sure.
The invitation:
Add one ripe (if you’re like me, VERY ripe) mashed banana to the Blueberry Pancake Muffin Mix. You can add a thinly sliced banana round to the top of the muffin batter in the pan if you’d like. A thin banana slice will sit atop the batter as it bakes. A thicker slice of banana might sink. Bake as usual. Dip in butter. Coat in maple sugar. It’s a sweet brunch offering.
The invitation:
Bake the Chocolate Espresso Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting as normal. Spread half of the peanut butter frosting across the cake and pipe the other half of frosting along the edges of the cake. Just before serving top with ripe sliced bananas, crushed salted peanuts and a drizzle of store-bought caramel sauce. We’re giving Elvis vibes to our sandwich. I mean… should we add crisp crumbled bacon? I’m nodding my head yes with my whole heart.
I’m rooting for your brunch life. I’m here for your cake work. These Williams Sonoma mixes are designed to feel like homemade baking with a lighter load (and blessedly, less dishes). It’s really been such a pleasure to work with the team to bring you high-quality ingredients and a finished product you can feel super proud of (and take all the credit for).
AND! If you’re in Los Angeles, come see me on Saturday, March 12th, at 11am at the BRAND NEW Williams Sonoma Store at The Original Farmers Market – 6333 W 3rd Street #P-10 Los Angeles, CA 90036.
AND AND! We’ll have a BRAND NEW brunch baking mix to share with you in May. It’s a very clever coffee cake situation and I think you’ll love it!
My love to you!
xo
Iris Smith
Thank you for mentioning that, if you’d like, you might top the muffin batter in the pan with a circle of finely sliced bananas. On the weekend, my mother and I want to bake a cake. The banana had been bought by my mother. I believe it is a good idea to store the banana on the banana hook and place it in the cake mixer when we are making a cake.
jamie
I buy bananas specifially so that they WILL go brown/ “bad”. I peel then throw them in a ziplock in freezer for smoothie, and also bake with them (including pancakes.) Yellow/ “fresh” bananas rarely get used!
Eva
Haha I love that you think you eat bananas but not really. Same here. There is always bananas in my kitchen but usually they end blended or baked !!
Sarah
Hi Joy! I have the carrot cake pancake mix anddd this impulse to turn them into muffins. Is this a terrible idea?
Joy the Baker - Founder
I feel like this is not a terrible idea at all!