It’s a Sunday morning and I am making my weekly grocery list. There I am, writing down what fruit I want for the week while the overly ripe bananas on my counter stare at me and practically beg me to do something with them. Hence, this week’s Sweet Talk recipe: Banana Muffins.

Let’s be honest, banana bread from ripe bananas is a no-brainer, right? In this case, I wanted banana bread, but something a bit more portable for my undesirable 8 a.m. classes that seem to only get worse as the semester progresses. Courtesy of Sally’s Baking Addiction, these warm spiced banana muffins will have your kitchen smelling like the holidays, perfect for the upcoming season. You get the best of both worlds from this recipe: a tasty and minimal effort treat!

Here is the process:

Preheat your oven to 425℉ and line your muffin tin with cupcake liners.

In one bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then set it aside:

• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg

In a second bowl, mash your ripe bananas. I find a whisk is easiest for this. They should look like this:

To the same bowl, add the following wet ingredients and whisk to combine:

• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk

Finally, combine the flour mixture with the wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Here, you have the option to add chocolate chips or walnuts, I chose to opt out of adding them.

All that is left to do is (attempt) to evenly fill up your muffin tin! Once filled, bake them in the oven at 425℉ for 5 minutes, then, making sure to keep the oven door closed, lower the temperature to 350℉ and continue baking for 16-18 minutes. The shock of the high oven temperature will allow the muffin to rise quickly, giving it that cute “muffin top” that you would typically see at a bakery.

You know what comes next! After the muffins are done baking, painfully allow them to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove them and let them fully cool at room temperature. This step is, of course, optional.

I absolutely adored the way these muffins turned out. They have the perfect touch of sweetness and will stay fresh all week, according to the recipe, but I am afraid they will not survive that long.