Carrot Banana Muffins

I made these tender and delectable muffins last week.  They are packed full raisin, pecans, and sweetened coconut.  

I think pecans are my favorite nut.  They are native to Mexico and the southeastern United States.  Pecan is an Algonquin word meaning nut with a firm shell.

Pecans are not technically nuts.  They are drupes, which are single pits surrounded by husks.  Pecan trees are one of the most recently domesticated plants.  Farmers started commercially growing them 1880s, but wild pecans were eaten before that time.  The United States grows around 80 percent of the world's pecans.  

A pecan tree can live and grown pecans for 300 years.  The first Europeans to come into contact with pecans were Spanish explorers in the 16th century.  Of course, Native Americans consumed them before then.

The recipe came from food.com.  The recipe is for bread, but I made muffins instead.  I used less sugar and added raisins and coconut. All good decisions.

The ingredients are 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 3 ripe bananas, 1 cup grated carrots, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1/2 cup raising, and 1/2 cup coconut.

I mixed the oil and sugar together.

I added the eggs and stirred.

I added the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into another bowl.

I stirred the dry ingredients together.  I alternated between adding and stirring the dry ingredients and mashed bananas into the egg and sugar mixture.

I added the grated carrots, pecans, raisins, and coconut into the batter.  I stirred until combined.

I scooped the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper liners.  I almost filled the entire cup with batter.  I made 12 muffins.

I baked the muffins for 22 minutes at 350 degrees.  I let them cool a little in the pan and then cool completely on a wire rack.

These muffins were toothsome and tempting.

The muffins were soft, tender, and moist.

They were chock full of hearty, sweet, chewy, and crunchy bits.  It was a party in the mouth.  There is nothing I would change about these muffins.  They were practically perfect in every way.