A Perfect Pairing – Best Ever Banana Walnut Cream Cheese Muffins & DripJoy!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I make a lot of muffins around here. The hubs doesn’t seem to mind being my taste tester, I’m often in the kitchen experimenting. I hadn’t played around much with cream cheese before and figured it couldn’t be too complicated to give it a whirl with my banana walnut cream cheese muffins. I got a thumbs up! Of course, my husband likes to enjoy his muffins with coffee. Me? I’ve never had a cup of coffee in my life (yes, I have tried it). Shocking, I know. Tea is my thing, so you may find it a bit ironic that I’ve partnered with DripJoy on today’s post. Everyone I know drinks coffee so when I hear of a great product, I will definitely share it. And if I can give one away? Well, even better. Oh, did I mention the giveaway…

This post contains affiliate links. My full disclosure can be found here.

DripJoy Coffee Brewer

We had another big-brand machine. It took up a bit of space on the counter and stopped working after a few months. After a few phone calls and a handful of Tweets they did send a replacement. I found the machine to be loud and the cups very expensive. They also didn’t have a recycling program for them, so hubs eventually switched to the reusable cup. I’ve read a lot about the lack of information on recycling K-cups, so it was timely that DripJoy and I connected.

So what and who is DripJoy? Through their single-serve subscription service (say that three-times, fast) they have a goal of perfecting the single serve experience whether at home or in places of business. The monthly subscriptions start as low as $14.99 and they customize it to your tastes. They have seven unique flavors of coffee that come in JoyPods™ (I was reading through – with flavors of lemon and chocolate included, they ARE unique). And just in case you already own a machine, all of their coffee is K-Cup compatible and sustainably sourced. And instead of ending up with something you may not want to try, you choose the flavors. I mean you want to try what YOU want to try, right?

And they have a recycling program, you all! They do the work for you, too. ALL subscribers receive a Recycle A Cup® and instructions on what to do. You just cover a very small shipping cost of $2.60. That’s pretty awesome to help reduce waste. You can also compost the coffee grinds you’ll remove from the cups. If you don’t compost, they provide a resource to get you started.

Taste Test

Hubs chose Dark Bean Daydream and Colombian Cheer. (Total side note: Being that I am 1/2 Colombian, I very much appreciate the spell Colombian correctly!) My husband has been drinking coffee for many, many years. Up until he tried DripJoy, he swore it all tasted exactly the same. True story. Cheap stuff, mid-range and ultra-luxury brands; yep. All the same. After noticing how much less counter space DripJoy Brewer takes, he got to brewing. which is so simple even I can work this machine:

You just insert the coffee as above (Colombian Cheer in this case), wait for the machine to warm up, the Brew & On button will turn green, hit it (uhh press lightly) and there you go. The feedback hubs has: he wishes there was a clock on this machine like on his last one. He did add, “…although there are already clocks on the microwave and oven.” Creature of habit, that guy.

It’s nice and quiet. When I asked him what he thought of DripJoy coffee he said the Dark Bean Daydream is actually a “good strong” and when it came to the Colombian Cheer, he said it was the smoothest coffee he’d had. He actually noticed! I was really surprised and kind of tickled over this.

And it’s the perfect pairing for banana walnut cream cheese muffins, of course. So I got to work…

Best Ever Banana Walnut Cream Cheese Muffins

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 large bananas -preferably with bruises, you want them really ripe
• 8 oz of cream cheese
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter softened (or 3/4 cup measured out, salted works, but unsalted is what I use and prefer)
• 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (you can also use pecans)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Mexican Vanilla (or regular if you don’t have Mexican)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• USA Pan Muffin Pan (You all know I swear by these. There is no need to grease or line your pan.)
• Two bowls, one large and one medium (I use this set)
• Electric Mixer (you’ll need this to whip the butter)

Banana Walnut Cream Cheese Muffins – Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) and in the medium bowl combine your dry ingredients -flour, baking powder and salt. I sift my flour, not a requirement, though. I use a whisk, but a fork works, too. Put it to the side.

In the large bowl beat the butter and cream cheese until it’s combined really well and has a creamy consistency. Now add your sugar, a little at a time until it’s completely mixed in and you have a smooth, creamy consistency. Add one egg and beat for about 30 seconds then add the second egg and beat again.
Now grab your dry ingredients and add 1/3 of it at a time, thoroughly mixing. When that bowl is empty, break up the bananas and mash them (I use a potato masher). Add your vanilla and mix it with the batter. Fold in your walnuts.

Spoon the batter into your muffin pan.
Bake for 25-30 minutes. A note: really pay attention to the last five minutes. I checked my muffins at 20 minutes and put them in for 7 more. They probably could have just used 4 minutes. The banana will play with the baking time a little, so use a toothpick to test! Transfer to a cooling rack:
Serve your banana walnut cream cheese muffins with your DripJoy coffee (and/or tea 😉 ) and enjoy!

Enter to Win

Now you’re ready to get to baking banana walnut cream cheese muffins and enjoying DripJoy coffee at your house, right? Enter to win a DripJoy coffee brewer and a 24-count of coffee. If you just can’t wait, use the promo code countrylife15 at check out for 15% off any subscription you choose. Let me know which one of DripJoy’s seven unique coffee flavors you’ll choose in the comments and good luck in the giveaway! (Open to 18 and over, US shipping address only.)