What a fun surprise these Cheerios Banana Muffins turned out to be! I had no idea you could crush Cheerios and bake them into muffins. Pinterest proves its worth yet again.
I haven’t been blogging because I was mostly making recipes I’ve already made, various breakfast muffins and a few treats to give away over the holidays. Then Christmas came and among the repeats (pumpkin gingersnaps, crisp peanut butter cookies, banana nutella muffins, honey oat quick bread), my sister Rosie and I made some brand new treats, but I forgot to take photos and thus, no Christmas blog.
We did make some great ones, though, like these Salted Espresso Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (using Christmas-colored chocolate chips):
And also, these amazing, taste-like-Christmas, Mocha Thumbprint Cookies with Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses:
But yes. Forgot to take pictures along the way. Sorry, but I was having fun with Rosie.
Then I was going to bake last night, but I was too tired.
Then, THE POWER WENT OUT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then, it came back. And I baked something new, with the last of the overripe bananas. I found the recipe for the Cheerios Banana Muffins on Pinterest but it originally came from The Chew, which my Mom likes to watch. I made a bunch of changes, and I can see the opportunities for even more. In the meantime, I’ll just eat them. Healthy and delicious and rather unique, but simple.
First things first, I switched out the suggested plain Cheerios for Peanut Butter Cheerios, which are the best Cheerios ever, and were invented expressly for me. I’m sure of it.
The recipe said to crush the Cheerios, but didn’t make any suggestions as to how that might best be accomplished. I decided to use the rolling pin.
One person had commented on the recipe that she didn’t want over-crush the cereal, and the muffins ended up grainy, so I felt confident in over-crushing. Crush like the Crusher Boy! Crush like Doctor Crusher! Crush crush!
To the crushed (crushed!) cereal I added whole wheat white flour, packed brown sugar, baking soda and baking powder, and then threw in a teaspoon of cinnamon, which wasn’t in the recipe.
I whisked.
I set that bowl aside, then mashed up three medium-sized bananas.
Ewwww.
I quickly added some brown sugar, 1% milk,
canola oil, and an egg white.
And then, even though it wasn’t in the recipe, I added a teaspoon of vanilla. How could that be bad?
I whipped that together with a whisk, then poured it into the flour mixture.
Once mixed (but not overmixed), I spooned it into the muffin pan. I thought it looked a little plain, so I put one last Peanut Butter Cheerio on top of each muffin.
I’d heated the oven to 425 degrees, so I put the tray in and reduced it to 400.
I started checking on it about 15 minutes in, but they took a little over 20 to bake all the way through.
They looked good and they smelled good.
They’re so good! Light and fluffy, tasty, and unique! Fun. Easy to make, too. Plus I’m already imagining the variations…cocoa powder, Honey Nut Cheerios, different types of sugar instead of brown. This is a fun one.
CHEERIOS BANANA OAT MUFFINS (original)
My version of Cheerios Banana Muffins (adapted from The Chew)
ingredients:
2 cups Peanut Butter Cheerios cereal
1 1/4 cups whole wheat white flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2-3 medium)
2/3 cup 1% milk
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
directions:
Heat oven to 425 degrees. (You will lower the temperature when you put the muffins in.) Grease, spray, or line a 12-cup muffin tin.
Crush the Cheerios. I did this by putting them into a Ziploc bag and pushing a rolling pin back & forth until they were almost pure powder. Pour them into a bowl and add the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Whisk, then set aside.
In another bowl, mash up the bananas. Add the milk, canola oil, egg white, and vanilla. Whisk, with some vigor.
Pour the banana mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir just until incorporated.
Scoop into muffin tins. You can put something on top if you like: a Cheerio, a peanut butter chip, anything you like or nothing at all.
Reduce the oven temperature to 400, then bake the muffins for 18-23 minutes, until golden brown on the outside and/or when a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the tins briefly, then remove to a wire rack.
There are many variations available to you! Try different types of sugar, or flour, or Cheerios, or toppings. You can also add in anything you like.
As is, these are 3 WW P+ per muffin, and mighty tasty.
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