Banana Oat Muffins

These Banana Oat Muffins are a snack you and your kids will agree on! We've been eating them for years, and now the Sweaty Kids and I do it together—it's a great muffin recipe for kids as there are several wet ingredients to be measured and quantities don't have to be precise. Great for a breakfast muffin with some protein on the side (cheese, yogurt or eggs, maybe...?). I don't make them often, but lately I've been adding things like yogurt and... shhhh.... flax. 

In my pregnant days, I baked. I don't really like to bake, but everybody pregnant likes to bake. In fact, that's probably how baking was invented. Some pregnant woman thousands of years ago took a look at another cob of maize, put on some Feist, and made corn muffins. OK, so that pretty much sums up months 8 through 10 in my first pregnancy...

One of my go-to muffin recipes, during that magical time when a girl must work to GAIN weight, was Banana Oat Muffins. I can't recall where I got the original recipe but I would place a bet on AllRecipes.com, which is an interesting database of recipes contributed by its members. Usually I don't trust "recipe communities" for my meals BUT the membership on this site is so huge that you can get hundreds and, sometimes, thousands of reviews. I think that's a pretty good sample, and if several hundreds or thousands of people give something 4-5 stars, I'd consider it worth a shot. 

I've tweaked these muffins to make them slightly less sweet and dense, which is how I like my muffins. Using older bananas will increase sweetness without the addition of extra sugar. Throw older bananas in the fridge or freezer for a few days (or longer in the freezer) and they will break down and nearly liquify, eventually, which makes for FANTASTIC muffins. Today's batch was with spotty, soft bananas but not refrigerated/frozen, so they turned out with nice chunks of banana for texture, but less sweetness. And here we go...

Banana Oat Muffins

Yields 12-18 muffins

• 1 1/2 c flour, white or whole wheat
• 1 c. steel-cut oats
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/3 c. flaxseed, ground
• 1 egg
• 1 c. milk (if using buttermilk, omit lemon juice/vinegar)
• 1 T. lemon juice or white vinegar
• 1/3 c. coconut oil, melted & cooled (olive, canola or melted butter will work as well)
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 1 c. bananas, mashed (3 bananas)
• 1/4 c. yogurt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Melt coconut oil, and place lemon juice into milk to sour for 5 minutes.

3. Combine dry ingredients and spices in a large bowl, and create a well.

4. Lightly beat egg and add cooled oil, milk, and vanilla.

5. Mash bananas with yogurt; add to wet ingredients and combine. 6. Pour wet ingredients into dry and stir until just mixed.

7. Bake 18-20 minutes. 

Try them warm with peanut, almond or other nut butter for a GREAT treat!