Banana Nut Mini's

My friend Jill's birthday was this weekend and she was having a "Mini" food theme so after planning on baking mini apple cider donuts my plan was foiled at around 9:30pm on Friday night when I realized I didn't have any plain yogurt which the donut recipe calls for. So, I looked around at my options and all I had were some bananas, nuts, and some yellow cake mix... so banana cupcakes were on the menu.

This recipe is super easy and these mini cupcakes are by far some of the most moist cupcakes you will ever taste. You could also make regular size cupcakes with this recipe if you want... they are great with coffee.

BATTER:

• 1 pkg of Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
• 1 cup of water
• 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2-3 Bananas
• 1 cup of walnuts

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

• 1/2 shortening
• 4 cups of sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons of whole milk

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350F fill your pan with mini cupcake liners set aside. Blend dry mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl at low speed until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 min. In another bowl mash your bananas with a fork, add into the batter, mixing with a spoon. Put your walnuts in a food processor and grind until you have small little bits of the nuts, add to batter. Thats it for the batter- it is super easy.

Fill your mini cups 3/4 of the way up with the batter. Bake in the oven for about 12-15 min. They are very moist so they take a bit more time then most mini cupcakes to bake. Let them cool completely before adding the frosting.

To make the icing:

Mix the shortening and butter until fluffy, add in vanilla extract. Once combined slowly add in the powdered sugar while mixing. The mixture will be rather dry at this point. Slowly add in the milk until you reach your desired texture. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to use.