Banana Matcha Muffins

So I've been consuming an absurd amount of matcha lattes this fall, and I've decided that it's time to switch it up. I don't know what it is about matcha. Is it the bitterness at first taste and sweetness at second? Is it the frothy texture that develops when whisked just right? Is it the earthy color? Who knows, I just LOVE it. But lately I've seen so many bloggers using matcha in baking and knew I just couldn't pass up the opportunity; so here's what I came up with!

Ingredients:

2 C All-Purpose Flour

1/2 C Granulated Sugar

1/2 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 Tbsp Matcha Powder

1 Egg, room temp

1 C Milk, room temp

2 Very Ripe Bananas, mashed

3 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled*

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, salt and baking powder until combined. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, bananas, vanilla extract and melted butter.

5. Fold the wet ingredients into the flour mixture until combined, leaving a few small lumps in the batter.

6. Separate about 1 C of the batter into a small bowl. Add the matcha powder to this portion of the batter and mix well.

7. Using a cookie scoop or large spoon, evenly distribute half of the banana batter (non-matcha) into the muffin cups.

8. Using a small spoon, evenly distribute half of the matcha batter on top of the banana batter. I used about 1-2 tsp of matcha batter in this step.

9. Using a toothpick, swirl the top of the batter to create the tie-dye effect.

10. Repeat steps 7-9 to fill the muffin cups. When swirling the tops of the muffin this time, be careful not to insert the toothpick too far into the cup, this will disturb the swirls you created in the middle of the muffins.

11. Bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

12. Remove from oven. Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin tin for about 5 minutes before removing them.

*Be sure to cool the butter after melting. Added hot butter to the egg mixture will scramble your eggs.