Banana Bread Muffins

1 1/4cups sugar
1/2cup butter or margarine, softened*
2eggs*
1 1/2cups mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)
1/2cup milk
1teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2cups all-purpose flour*
1teaspoon baking soda
1teaspoon salt
1cup chopped nuts, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix sugar and butter in large bowl. Stir in eggs until well blended. Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts. Pour into greased muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes. (I started making these into muffins because I didn’t have the patience for loafs. I also wanted easily edible bite size breakfasts for us on the go… I even make mini muffins too!) If you would like to make loafs, pour into 2 greased loaf pans and bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean. Recipe from: Betty Crocker, altered by me!

*To make these even healthier you can do the following:
1. Use 1/4cup unsweetened applesauce & 1/4cup margarine instead of 1/2 c. butter
2. Use 1/2cup fat-free cholesterol-free egg product instead of 2 eggs
3. Use 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour & 1 1/4 c. white flour or all whole wheat… James loves this. It makes the muffin have a hearty almost nutty flavor to it. I highly suggest this! Today I ran out of sugar and so I only put in 3/4 c.and they still were "Pleasantly sweet" like our friend Clinton said I could quote him saying.
**Guilty Confession: They taste even better with soft, melting butter on top, but that is not guilt free and defeats the whole purpose... but it is true.