The Transplanted Baker: Name Day Banana Oat Muffins (with streusel!)

I’m back from vacation. No, staying home, alone, with a baby all day is technically not a vacation, no matter how lovely it is most of the time. You’ve already seen pics from Lasse’s first visit to the beach and the docks. The second half of our vacation was spent on our first-ever family road trip through the mountains of central Norway.

Sognefjellet

A stop at arguably the nation’s best bakery (where I devoured the most fantastic strawberry-topped, cream-filled, powder-sugar dusted bun known to man).

Bakeriet i Lom (The bakery in Lom)

And then on to Oslo for a few other firsts: Lasse’s first trip to the “big city”, as well as his first glimpses of junkies, gypsies, and pigeons. It really is a nice city. Trust me.

Operahuset (Oslo Opera House)

So now that we’re home, I’m making it my mission to fill this blog up with more recipes. Today’s recipe is inspired by my little kitchen helper for a very good reason. Today is Lasse’s name day!

The whole concept of name days is a bit foreign to most Americans, but quite common in much of Europe (and apparently Latin American too). Although today they’re nothing more than a nice excuse to eat cake, name days have their origins steeped deep in the catholic church. During the middle ages, the church started to promote the celebration of name days (really saints’ feast days) over birthdays, which were shunned as a pagan tradition. There’s a little more to it, but we’ll skip over all of that and have you check out this fun site all about name days the world over instead- maybe you’ll even find your name and have a new reason to celebrate an otherwise, completely arbitrary day. Go June 19^th!

August 10th commemorates the martyring of Saint Lawrence, who , strangely enough, is the namesake of all Swedish Lars’ and Lasses. They all start with L? Today, instead of honoring a random man who died some 2000 years ago, I baked a batch of muffins to honor my boy. Seems reasonable, no?

Ok. So muffins are really a big kid food. Or at least a food for people with teeth. Lasse hasn’t any teeth, but he does love a good bowl of oatmeal with mashed banana and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Cinnamon. Just a dash. Did you know that babies can eat a wide variety of spices? Start them while they’re young has become my general philosophy.

Today’s muffins are not so much made for Lasse, but in the essence of Lasse and his favorite foods on his name day. They’ve become a new favorite and could easily go head-to-head with these other favorites. A cup each of oats and mashed banana, a sprinkling of cinnamon, a brown sugar nut streusel, and a dash of love. Heck of a good muffin for you to share with your loved ones, based on this recipe.

Lasse's Streuseled Banana Oat 'Name Day´ Muffins

Lasse sine navnedag muffins med banan og havre

*makes one dozen muffins

1 cup (80 g) rolled oats (or oat flour if you can find it)

1 cup (140 g) All-purpose flour

1 tablespoon rolled oats

1/2 cup (60 g) chopped walnuts or pecans

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (115 g) butter, softened

3/4 cup (150 g) white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup (225 g) mashed ripe banana

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml/115 g) sour cream

1/3 cup (25 g) rolled oats

3 tablespoons (40 g) brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons (30 g) butter, chilled

1/4 cup (30 g) chopped walnuts or pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

2. Place 1 cup rolled oats in a food processor and process until ground. In a large bowl, combine ground oats with flour, 1 tablespoon rolled oats, chopped walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the banana and vanilla. Stir in sour cream. Mix oat/flour mixture into egg mixture. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans.

4. To make streusel topping: In a small bowl, combine 1/3 cup rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs; stir in 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Generously sprinkle muffins with topping.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.