Gorgeous, Soft Muffins

You know the drill. Thoughts in your head of almost cupcake-like muffins, sweet and soft and fluffy... only to bake up heavy, dense hockey pucks. Can't-even-gulp-them-down-with-a-glass-of-milk... amiright? Nobody likes that.

One way to soften up your muffins and cakes alike and give them nice leavening (think fluff!), is to add in whipped cream. Fluffyness and flavor in one. I learned this method from Shirley O Corriher's infamous book, Bakewise, and the below recipe is based on her's. Great book, lots of nice techniques and a neat explanation of science.
Sure you can use egg whites, whipped to medium peaks and fold in. This works. But the texture is a bit more stiff (think meringue) and it has a decidedly egg-y flavor. Whipped cream is where it's at. It's an easy extra step that you can even do up to a day or so in advance (whipped cream will keep in a cold refrigerator for a day or so).

Tip: Give it a hot flash: With most quick-breads, including biscuits and muffins, I highly suggest preheating the oven to 25-50 degrees hotter than you'll actually bake with. This ensures a really hot oven when your beautiful pastry goes in, giving it an important initial lift, helping them to rise UP instead of OUT from the very beginning.

Ingredients

2 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 c sugar
1 egg
1/3 c oil
1/3 c buttermilk
1 t vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 c heavy cream

sanding sugar for topping, optional

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Prepare a muffin tin for baking (spray, flour, liners, whathaveyou).

1. Mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, in one bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients: egg, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and bananas in another bowl.
3. In a third bowl, whip cream to medium peaks.
4.  Beat together wet and dry ingredients with a hand or stand mixer.
5. With a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the whipped cream to the other mixture until most of the white streaks are gone and its mostly incorporated.
6. Fold remaining whipped cream into batter until, again, most of the white streaks are gone and batter is a pretty uniform color.
7. Spoon into muffin cups, all the way to the top. Ideally, use an ice cream scoop, but a regular spoon works too. Optionally, sprinkle sanding sugar on top.
8. Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Bake about 20 minutes, until cake tester inserted comes out clean.