Some decisions feel disproportionately important.
Is it better to sleep with your contacts in, or to take them out after you’ve sliced two jalapeños and your fingers still burn even after multiple showers and questionable home remedies?
Is it ever acceptable to “borrow” a box of rubber gloves from the lab just to protect your hands while cutting peppers?
How far does “too immoral” go when convenience and survival hunger meet?
If your roommate leaves otherwise fine bananas to rot on top of the fridge for more than a couple of days, does the urge to curl into a fetal position and stress-eat an entire jar of Nutella with your index finger as a spoon creep up at the very thought of a single yellow banana in your home?
Or is the compulsion stronger than restraint, driving you to mash those bananas with sugar and flour, fold in mango and ginger, bake at 350°F, and bring the resulting muffins to work as bribery to win over coworkers?
And do you realize—too late—that your roommate never got to try one because the batch disappeared within an hour? Oops. Your bad.
Decision-making can feel overwhelming when you go it alone. Sometimes you just need a group vote; a majority rules kind of approach.
So let’s solve life’s pressing questions together: jalapeños, bananas, good chocolate, which lab I should choose for my PhD, and whether my hot pink leggings are appropriate for public life.
I’ve been invited by Gevalia to host a BeanChat tomorrow morning at 10 AM EST. If you want to talk live, head to the Gevalia Facebook Fanpage and click the BeanChat icon on the left. I’ll be there to discuss these crucial matters and more.
See you there!
Mango Banana Muffins with Crystallized Ginger
Makes about 18, adapted from Joy the Baker
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 mango, cut into chunks
- 1 cup crystallized ginger, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas well. Stir in the oil, brown sugar, and vanilla until combined.
- Sift in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix until just combined; do not overmix.
- Fold in the mango chunks and crystallized ginger until evenly distributed.
- Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake 30–35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
I’m submitting this to Bake with Bizzy.