• 1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) softened butter or vegetable oil
• 1 cup (2 to 3 whole) very ripe mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 tsp. orange zest
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a standard 6-muffin tin with paper liners or grease well; set aside.

Put flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt into a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar and butter or oil into a second large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add bananas, applesauce, zest, vanilla, and egg to the sugar-butter mixture, and beat again until combined. Add flour mixture to banana mixture in three parts, stirring well after each addition; fold in walnuts.

Spoon batter into prepared tin; bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe adapted from The Tassajara Bread Book , by Edward Espe Brown, copyright © 1995 (with permission from Shambhala Publications, Inc.)