One of my favourite types of fruit is bananas. I have one every morning with my coffee and I love it. There’s something about the combination of the sweet banana with the rich coffee (I’m looking forward to it for tomorrow already!). I love bananas because they are good for you (great source of potassium, vitamins & energy) and so versatile. You can eat them straight up; you can put them on toast with peanut butter, in smoothies, dip them in dark chocolate for a dessert, and make whole wheat banana pancakes, put them in oatmeal, cereal or freeze the too-ripe ones for baking. And I love how they come in their own little protective package. Ok, I’ll stop, but they really are great. I know they’re a tad high in sugar & calories (compared to other fruit), but its natural sugar, and better than pairing your coffee with a processed pastry.
While I do my best to plan my banana purchases (I consider myself a great banana planner); sometimes I over-buy and am left with ones that are too ripe. In this case, I just put them in the freezer and use them for baking when I have enough banked up (or I take some from my sister, who I consider a poor banana planner – they have like 30 ripe bananas in their freezer, no joke). I did this last weekend, and adapted a great banana muffin recipe from Food.com. I love this recipe because it’s healthy, but they still taste great, and it calls for simple ingredients. Enjoy!
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup plain oats
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1 tbsp. ground flaxseed or hemp seeds
1 tsp. cinnamon
⅓ cup grapeseed oil or melted coconut oil
⅓ cup real maple syrup or organic honey
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas mashed
¼ cup of hot water
½ cup organic raisins (you can sub in whatever you like here: dates, walnuts, blueberries…)
Method
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
If your bananas are in the freezer, de-thaw them in the fridge for a few hours before you start baking or overnight and mash them in a small bowl.
Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, beat eggs, and whisk in oil & maple syrup. Add the mashed bananas and stir to combine.
Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry; alternating with water, and stirring after each addition. Fold in raisins.
Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups (I use coconut oil in a can, and spray each cup to make sure they don’t stick to the paper) and put them in the oven for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown.
Take them out of the muffin trays, and let them cool on a rack. Store in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for 3 months.
(Each muffin is about 170 calories)
Do you consider yourself a good banana planner? Are you a banana lover? What do you enjoy having with your morning coffee?
I love this article , I am definitely guilty of the big portion. Everything in moderation is an important reminder
Great recipe! The muffins came out extremely moist, which is what it’s all about!
Great recipe! Thank you!I made mine with cranberries and absolutely love it! Very tasty and HEALTHY, so you can enjoy them and don’t feel guilty 🙂 My family and friends loved them too.
Hi Lana,
I’m so glad you like them! It is a great recipe, and you can really add whatever fruit or nuts/seeds that you like to make them your own. I would recommend raisins instead of craisins though. Dried cranberries have quite a bit of added sugar, while raisins have natural sugar & antioxidants! (Sun-Maid is a good brand, and doesn’t have any added oil or preservatives)
Hi Lauren,
Thanks for this advice.
Healthy living is my passion too. And I love your blog – a lot of useful advice and information. Great stuff! Looking forward to your new posts.
Thanks Lana! It’s always nice to hear from people who share the same passion!
Hi Lauren,
I made these but didn’t have WW flour so I substituted with coconut flour which I bought to make your Pumkin muffins:) They seemed dry in the bowl … but I went with it anyway. The result was lumpy, chunky (not a formed muffin) and would fall apart if not for in a paper muffin liner. Unfortunately, I never got to taste them as I was at my Son’s and had to bolt to the airport before they cooled.
Can you help? Would the substitution of the flours be what caused this? Should I have added more hot water with this adaptation? Curious … Kris thought the combo of coconut and the dark chocolate would be amazing … I concur??
Thanks Lauren … keep up the great work … have to catch up with you and all your wonderful recipes.
I love your new addition for your new house!! How is country life living going? I think it would be wonderful … lucky you:)
Laurie xo
Hi Laurie,
I’m sorry the muffins didn’t turn out! I’ve sent your question over to my gluten-free girl Sarah – she will provide you with an answer on the flour substitution shortly.
Country living is great so far!
Hi Laurie!
If you’d like to use coconut, try this recipe here, substituting chocolate chips in place of the walnuts. http://theotherbigo.ca/2013/02/27/gluten-free-banana-walnut-coconut-muffins/
There’s a couple reasons why your recipe didn’t work out. For one, whole wheat flour and coconut flour have different weights. In general, baking is best done by weight — you’ll get the most accurate results this way. All flours have different weights, which is (primarily) why they’re not interchangeable. I bought my scale from Canadian Tire for $10 (on sale) and it’s honestly one of my favourite kitchen gadgets.
Secondly, coconut flour is super absorbent. For this recipe to work, you’d need roughly 14 eggs (it’s typically 4-6 eggs to every 1/2 c coconut flour) or possibly fewer eggs and more banana. You might be able to salvage this batch by tossing them into smoothies.