Healthy Banana Oat Muffins

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I really have to pick up the pace on my blogging. I made these Healthy Banana Oat Muffins weeks ago, and they are SO delicious and breakfasty and good to eat that I feel like a jerk for not making them available to you sooner. A jerk, I am! But maybe this is better, a little post-Christmas healthy baked good to rescue you from cookie overdose.

I started by beating the egg and brown sugar together, a slightly unusual first step in my experience. This recipe was also the first time I tried using Sucanat, a purer brown sugar than you find in most stores. (I got mine at Whole Foods on the recommendation of my friend Sydney, who runs motheringmother.com.) Like brown sugar, it contains molasses, but unlike brown sugar, it isn’t processed in a way that removes (or “displaces”) the vitamins and minerals. It’s basically pure dried sugar cane juice. And it looks nice with an egg.

See? Sucanat is a bit grainy-looking, not thick and soft like most brown sugar, but the flavor is pretty much the same and it’s definitely better for you! Once I whisked, you couldn’t tell the difference.

I added 1% milk, vanilla yogurt, applesauce, honey, and vanilla bean paste, then whisked again.

I mashed up the bananas and added them with a plop, and whisked some more.

Once that was properly mixed, I set it aside and, in another bowl, combined two kinds of flour, wheat germ, baking soda baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and rolled oats. I threw in some nutmeg, too.

And from there it was a simple matter of adding the dry ingredients to the banana-yogurt goop.

And of course, combining carefully, without overmixing.

I scooped the batter into muffin cups, happy to get 15 good-sized muffins out of the batter.

Mine took about 20 minutes to bake.  They came out of the oven without sinking too much, and smelled lovely.

These are a new staple. The cinnamon is gentle but present, and the bananas and oats combine perfectly. These are great breakfast muffins. They’re not dessert-like, they’re breakfasty, and for that they are ideal. Amazing that they don’t have butter or oil, you’d never know it when you’re eating them.

Another hit.

HEALTHY BANANA OAT MUFFINS RECIPE (original)

My version of Healthy Banana Oat Muffins (adapted from Chelsea’s Messy Apron)

ingredients:

1 large egg
1/2 cup Sucanat (brown sugar)
1/2 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1/3 cup 1% milk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
1 cup mashed bananas
2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup whole wheat white flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup rolled oats

directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray or line muffin tins, anticipating getting about 15 muffins in the batch. (It may vary.)

In a large bowl, beat the egg and Sucanat/brown sugar. Add the yogurt, milk, applesauce, honey, and vanilla and beat again until well combined. A whisk should do this nicely.

Mash the bananas well, and add them to the mixture, then whisk thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir with a spatula just until combined.

Scoop batter into muffin tins. Bake at 400 for five minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the tin for another few minutes, then move to a wire rack.