My Favorite Banana Muffins

To most, banana muffins are the obligatory baked good made with the intentions of using up produce that has gone “bad.” But for me, I patiently wait for my bananas to become as close to rotten as possible in order to make these delicious muffins. They’re the food I’ve baked with friends since elementary school during play-dates, the topic of my sixth grade science fair project (I experimented with the number of eggs in a banana muffin recipe), and my all-time favorite breakfast treat. Banana muffins are like my version of someone else’s chocolate chip cookies, or another’s macaroni and cheese; it’s the food that reminds me of friends, early mornings before school, and my younger self – a comfort food.

For the purposes of this blog, I decided to “health-ify” this recipe by swapping out some ingredients. Instead of sugar, I use maple syrup or honey, and instead of all-purpose flour, I use whole wheat flour and oats. However, while testing this recipe, I made sure to have the final product be just as (or even more) delicious as the original recipe. I wanted to prove to myself, and whoever happened to come upon this post, that healthier foods never have to sacrifice flavor or texture. This recipe produces moist, flavorful, and hearty muffins every time while giving you an extra dose of fiber and whole grains. Even though these muffins are different from the ones I used to bake, I don’t view them as an alternative to my original recipe, but rather an evolution.

Main Ingredients Needed for Banana Muffins

• Bananas – Ideally, you want your bananas to be as ripe as possible for this recipe, in order to take full advantage of its flavor and sweetness.

• Neutral Oil – I typically use canola oil for this recipe, but in the past I’ve used coconut oil as well. You mainly want to avoid having an oil with a very prominent flavor, such as extra-virgin olive oil, so you don’t give your muffins an odd flavor.

• Honey or Maple Syrup – Your pick! Both give the muffins a little boost of sweetness.

• Eggs – Gives the muffins their structure and moisture. You can also substitute the eggs with applesauce or a flax or chia seed egg.

• Milk – I generally use almond milk in this recipe, but normal dairy milk works great too.

• Whole Wheat Flour – As apposed to normal all-purpose flour (which you can definitely still use), I use whole wheat in order to give these muffins an extra nutrient boost.

• Baking Soda – Acts as a leavening agent.

• Spices – For most banana muffin recipes, cinnamon is a non-negotiable. However, I’ve experimented with adding nutmeg and cloves to my recipe, and have been extremely pleased with the results! I love the extra depth the additional spices offer, but just remember to be careful with the cloves because they’re quite strong.

• Oats – I really love oats in general, but I especially love oats as an addition to this recipe! I think they allow for some extra textural diversity in the muffins, as well some additional wholesome flavor, but I completely understand that some people may not like them. If you want to eliminate the oats from this recipe, I recommend adding just a little more flour (a tablespoon or two) to thicken the batter.

How long do the muffins last for?

I would say these muffins last for about three to five days. If you’re noticing the muffins are a bit lackluster in texture, then pop them in the microwave for roughly 20 seconds to revive them.

How do I get my muffins to rise more?

An excellent hack for getting your muffins to rise more is to fill every other muffin cavity in the muffin tray with batter. This way, each muffin will get more heat to conduct around it, resulting in a better rise!

What is the best way to mash a banana?

This question may be obvious for some, but for others a genuine thought. Typically, I’ve seen people mash bananas with a fork on a bowl or a plate, or with a potato masher. However, I actually prefer to use my hand mixer to mash my bananas by putting it on the lowest speed and gently mixing back and forth in the bowl. I find that this is the easiest method and saves the most dishes!

Serving: 12–16 muffins I Prep Time: 10–15 minutes I Cook Time: ≈15 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 overripe bananas

• ⅓ cup neutral oil (canola, light olive, sunflower, coconut, etc.)

• ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup

• 2 eggs

• ¼ cup milk of choice

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1½  whole wheat flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg and/or cloves (optional)

• ⅔ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit.

2. Place cupcake liners into every other muffin cup of a cupcake tin, or spray the pan with cooking spray.

3. In a large bowl mash your bananas and add the oil, maple syrup/honey, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Combine with a hand mixer or whisk.

4. To it, add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and optionally nutmeg and/or cloves.  Combine with a hand mixer or whisk until halfway combined.

5. Fold in your oats with a rubber spatula to avoid over mixing until the batter is just combined.

6. Fill your muffin trays with a ¼ cup of batter per muffin cup, and garnish with a sprinkling of oats.

7. Put the muffin tray into the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs.

8. Let the muffins cool for roughly 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

9. Enjoy the muffins by themselves or topped with a pad of butter, honey, or cinnamon.

Bon Appétit!