On [procrastinating by] Baking Strawberry Banana Muffins.

It happens at some point every semester.

Rather than write papers, do research, and read countless chapters for my seminary classes, I decide baking is a much more pressing matter.

I find solace in the sugar and comfort in the cakes; I lose track of time as I taste the creations that come out of the oven. 

It happened earlier than later this semester. As it is my last semester (unless someday I decide to pursue a doctoral degree), I shouldn't be surprised the baking procrastination has arrived so early.

It doesn't help that I have a new (very sparkly) ring on my finger and my heart is (very definitely) back in Oregon. My mind is elsewhere; it is definitely not inclined to read, write, and research theology. So I'm stuck here baking to my heart's content until I am able to force myself to leave the world of food blogs and Pinterest and return to the world of Augustine and Barth; where we'll ponder the trinity and scripture instead of streusel and biscotti.

Normally when I have overripe bananas on hand I'll whip out a loaf of banana bread. But this time I wanted to try something new, so I searched Pinterest for "strawberry banana recipes" since I had some frozen strawberries I needed to use up as well. The options seemed to be: strawberry banana smoothies, strawberry banana crepes, or strawberry banana muffins. I wasn't in the mood for a smoothie, and I didn't think frozen strawberries would do so well in the crepes, so I settled upon this muffin recipe.

Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect. The recipe sounded a little too summery for early October, but I went ahead and made them anyway.

I'm glad I did.

Muffins can be tricky: too dense, too chewy, too [fill in the blank].

I'm SO glad the recipe called for cinnamon. It gave it just enough fall oomph to make them October-acceptable. Next time I'd probably chop the strawberries into smaller pieces so the flavor would incorporate more evenly throughout. Otherwise, they were delicious and hearty. I'm excited to eat one (or two or three...) for breakfast tomorrow while I lock myself away to do homework.

This recipe is number 9 on my [25 before 25] Pinterest challenge. Go check out my boards on Pinterest and let me know what I should make next!