Elvis Muffins

While I don't think there is any direct connection between Elvis and Easter, I was inspired to make an muffin for our Easter brunch that the King would enjoy. That would be a muffin enjoyed by the latter-year's, somewhat bloated King. The one you want to avert your eyes from while you think longingly of the Elvis from "Blue Hawaii." When I was little, I thought Elvis was plastic and lived in the TV. I'm not so sure I was wrong.

The ingredients for these muffins are obvious....
Over-ripe bananas - check.
Peanut butter - check.
Chocolate chips - check.
Tom asked, rhetorically I think, 'you know what would be good on top of these muffins?' ....BACON! Even better, candied bacon.
Truly a muffin fit for a King.


Candied Bacon
6 slices thick-cut bacon
2 Tbs. plus 1 tsp. pure maple syrup
1-1/2 Tbs. light brown sugar

Put a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 425°F. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment and put bacon slices on it. Drizzle both sides with the maple syrup and then sprinkle both sides evenly with the sugar. Bake until browned and crisp, 20 to 22 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool, then chop into small pieces. Try not to eat an excessive amount.

We didn't have maple syrup (how did that happen?) so we used rice syrup (why we have rice syrup but not maple is a mystery of impulse shopping I guess). We mixed the rice syrup with some whiskey.

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
1 tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used no salt/no sugar added)
2 eggs
2 tbs canola oil
3/4 cup milk
2 ripe bananas, mashed.
1 additional ripe banana (optional) 
1 cup (and some more if you like) dark chocolate chips

What to do
This first step is optional, but it does give you a bit of an extra kick of banana flavor. 
Put the milk and the extra mashed banana in a small saucepan. Bring to just under a boil and turn off the heat and let banana steep in the milk for 15 to 30 minutes. Strain the milk into the peanut butter mixture (below) and discard the banana that steeped in the milk.

Preheat oven to 375. 
Mix flour, sugar, powder and salt in a large mixing bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, peanut butter, the other 2 mashed bananas, milk, oil and eggs until well mixed. Add the peanut butter mixture to the flour mixture, stirring until just moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon into well greased muffin tins. Sprinkle chopped bacon on top, and gently press into the batter a bit. I used mini-muffins tins, and the recipe yielded 42 mini muffins. In regular muffin tins, you'll get 12 muffins.

For mini muffins, bake 8-10 minutes. For regular muffins, 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

These are yummy little two bite morsels, with a definite banana-y, peanut butter-y taste. I read recently that the royal wedding reception next week will feature 2-bite appetizers, in case you need to greet a passing Monarch. I doubt we will have that need at brunch tomorrow, but you never know.

While these were baking, Jackson did a neat trick with his ear: