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Go bananas in wintertime

BANANAS are pretty amazing little yellow beings - perfectly packaged to take along as a snack, delicious raw and fantastic baked into any number of yummy things.

BANANAS are pretty amazing little yellow beings - perfectly packaged to take along as a snack, delicious raw and fantastic baked into any number of yummy things.

A banana is one of the best dietary sources of potassium, as well as being rich in Vitamin A and the full range of B vitamins. And a large banana contains only about 140 calories (though if you're counting carbs, at about 36 grams per banana you might want to eat them sparingly).

Bananas are probably more widely available than any other fruit and are usually very reasonably priced. If you happen to get a great deal on very ripe bananas, peel them, cut them into chunks, seal them into plastic bags and freeze them to use in smoothies or defrosted and mashed for baked goods.

UPSIDE-DOWN BANANA MUFFINS

These are best eaten the day they're made.

Non-stick cooking spray

4 Tbsp softened butter

½ cup brown sugar, packed

4 ripe bananas (ripe as in yellow, not black)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground nutmeg Pinch of salt

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 ?3 cup canola oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

3 Tbsp homogenized milk

3 Tbsp dark rum

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and position a rack in the centre. Lightly spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

Place two teaspoons of soft butter and two teaspoons of brown sugar in each muffin cup. Bake until the mixture in each cup is melted and bubbly, about 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Peel the bananas and cut them on a diagonal into 48 thin slices. In each muffin cup, place two banana slices on the bottom and two slices along the sides.

To make muffins, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl whisk together the brown sugar, oil, eggs, milk, rum and vanilla. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg mixture; stir until just blended - do not overbeat. Divide mixture evenly among the prepared muffin cups (they should be about ¾ full). Bake until the centre of the muffin springs back when pressed gently, about 18 minutes. Immediately invert the pan and turn out muffins onto a wire rack. Cool briefly before serving.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

A nice twist on a classic.

4 Tbsp butter, softened at room temperature

½ cup light brown sugar, packed

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 large banana, mashed

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or you could substitute 1 cup of raisins)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl combine the butter and sugars; mix until smooth. Add vanilla and egg, then the banana. Beat well. Slowly add the flour mixture until combined; stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by heaping tablespoonfuls two inches apart onto parchmentlined baking sheets. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 30.

CHOCOLATE BANANA SMOOTHIES

One of these makes a nice healthy after-school snack; you can use room temperature bananas but the frozen ones yield a much better consistency to the smoothies.

1½ cups milk (homo or 2%, not skim)

1½ cups vanilla yogurt (regular or light, not fatfree)

3-4 frozen bananas

10 ice cubes

Chocolate syrup (such as Hershey's) to taste, or 1 Tbsp Nutella, or both!

Mix all ingredients together in a blender until completely smooth. Drizzle additional chocolate syrup down the sides of four to six large glasses and pour in smoothies.