since i made my red velvet love cupcakes this week, i have leftover buttermilk that i'd like to use.

i have wheat germ, buttermilk, frozen ripe banana, and oatmeal, among other things.

i envision a banana wheat germ breakfast muffin, but the only recipes i've seen for them do not include buttermilk.

any ideas??
thanks!

Sounds like you have a great list ingredients to make a new recipe for a muffin! Just substitute the milk in a recipe with the buttermilk; it should be fine. As for the oatmeal, you can substitute 1:8 ratio with the oatmeal (at least that's what I do when I add dry oats). So, if the recipe calls for 2 cups flour, substitute 1/4 cup dry oatmeal for 1/4 cup of the flour, and just add up to 2 tablespoons of wheat germ to your standard banana muffin recipe. The banana muffin recipies I use generally call for 3 mashed bananas.

have you actually substituted buttermilk for milk before, carolyn? everything i read seemed to say not to do that!

the wheat germ website says you can substitute up to a 1/2 cup of flour for wheat germ. i don't think i'd do that much!

anyway -- it seems i spoke too soon. i was trying to look online when i was at work... i should've known i can count on deborah madison's vegetarian cooking for everyone (my favorite-favorite cookbook)!

banana oat muffins
2 large very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 c. buttermilk
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 T. melted butter
1 c. rolled oats
1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. grated nutmeg
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 375.

In one bowl, mix the bananas with the buttermilk, sugar, egg, and butter, then add the oats. In another bowl, combine the flour, nutmeg, and baking soda. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and quickly stir them together. Fill the muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake until golden brown and springy when pressed lightly with a finger, about 25 minutes.

Those sound really good, Kelly; how did they taste?

(I love love LOVE banana bread/muffins!)

: )

I agree...sounds like a great recipe! No, I haven't tried substituting buttermilk for milk in a muffin recipe, but it kind of tastes like plain yogurt, and plain yogurt is an ingredient in some muffin recipies. I agree with you, Kelly, that 1/2 cup of wheat germ substituted for 1/2 cup of flour sounds like too much. I play with substituting ingredients all the time (substituting ground allspice for ground cloves, for example, since I have plenty of the former and have been out of the latter for about a year). When I have bread or muffin recipies that call for 4 cups of flour, I usually substitute 1/4 cup with whatever "heavier" grain I have around - could be bran flakes, could be a mixture of bran and wheat germ and corn meal. Another 1/4 cup will almost always be dry oatmeal. If I'm out of bran flakes or wheat germ, I might even skip any "extra" and just go ahead and increase the dry oatmeal to 1/2 cup as a substitute for 1/2 cup of the flour.

so, i made them today. i doubled the recipe because it said it only made 9 muffins, and my point was to freeze them so i'd have a quick breakfast when i need it. (and of course, to use up the buttermilk.)

so i doubled the recipe, and it made 21 muffins!

this was the recipe i made

4 smallish very ripe bananas, mashed
1-1/2 c. buttermilk
2/3 c. packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
2 T. melted butter
2 T. vegetable oil
2 c. rolled oats
2-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2c. wheat germ
2 tsp. grated nutmeg
3 tsp. baking soda

they came out pretty good... but not sweet enough. i thought the toasted, honeyed wheat germ might add to the sweetness, but no dice. they are dense and yummy and really, i'd make them again.