Banana Muffins-yummy and HEALTHFUL:)

from Stephenie Dellenbach

INGREDIENTS:
* 4 Tbls butter, softened
* 1/4 cup applesauce
* 2 over-ripe bananas
* 1/4 cup sour cream
* 1/4 cup plain yogurt (you can use all plain yogurt instead of the sour cream)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
* 2 cups soft whole wheat flour (you can use hard white wheat flour)
* 1/4 cup ground flax seed (optional)
* 3/4 cup sugar (your bananas can add a lot of sweetness, so you may find you want to cut this down)
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 3/4 tsp baking powder
* 1/2 tsp salt
* (optional) 1 cup toasted, chopped walnuts or other nuts
* (optional, but SO yummy:) 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chop larger chips into smaller chunks)

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Lightly grease muffin tins (you can use any size tins, just adjust the baking time accordingly)
3. Puree bananas, sour cream, yogurt, eggs, applesauce and vanilla in a blender
4. sift flour, ground flax seed, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in bowl of electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment
5. Add butter and mix on medium/low speed until blended, about 30 seconds
6. Add banana mixture in three batches, scraping bowl and mixing on medium between each addition
7. fold in nuts and/or chocolate chips if desired
8. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow the leavening agents time to work with the wheat flour
9. Pour into muffin tins
10. Bake until lightly browned and bounces back to touch, about 15 minutes for regular size muffins
11. Remove from oven and cool for about 5 minutes before turning out and cool completely on wire rack

NOTE: These freeze REALLY well, so I usually make a triple or quadruple batch.  Then you can just pull one out of the freezer, heat it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and enjoy.  My kids LOVE these!  As a point of reference, a quadruple batch will just barely fit in a Bosch mixer.  I use the whisk attachment through step 5 then switch to the bread hook at step 6 when I add the liquid.  You could probably use the whisk attachments the whole time, but it gets a little thick as you start adding the liquid.