Foodie Friday V.2

Spiced Banana-Walnut Muffin Recipe
A simple, healthy, and tasty muffin!

1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom (I found this spice to be rather expensive unless you already have it on hand. Instead I just substituted with all-spice)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter (Microwave for 10-15 seconds for a short-cut) or vegetable oil
1 cup (2 t0 3 whole) very ripe mashed bananas (for a short-cut to ripen bananas: stick bananas in a brown bag with an apple and leave for a couple of days. The gasses from the apple speed up the ripening process)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp. orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (I like to use more)

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin (or a larger 6 cup tin for bigger muffins) with paper liners or grease well; set aside.
2. Put flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar and butter or oil into a second large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add bananas, applesauce, zest, vanilla, and egg to the sugar-butter mixture, and beat again until combined. Add flour mixture to banana mixture in three parts, stirring by hand after each addition; fold in walnuts.
3. Spoon batter into prepared tin; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.