Luckily, I don’t have a giant sweet tooth…unless of course something sweet is around. Then I eat it all. Which is why I don’t bake much. Plus I generally find the science of baking exhausting to follow. Nevertheless, I always keep my eye out for healthier baked goods that have easy to follow recipes. Found one.
I wouldn’t call these Banana Oat Muffins just healthier either, they’re straight up nutritious. No butter. No refined flour. Barely any sugar or oil. Lots of protein AND fiber, fiber, fiber. I realize that doesn’t sound all that tasty…but these muffins are of the delicious kind. Plus you get to use a pretty cool technique to make them.
You’re going to turn rolled oats into oat flour by pulsing them in the food processor until you get a consistency that’s similar to uncooked grits.
This is what you’ll use instead of pastry flour. About 2 cups of rolled oats should yield all the oat flour you’ll need. It only takes a few seconds to do.
The rest of the recipe is super easy and quick (about 10 minutes before they’re in the oven). I only bake them for about 15 minutes cause I prefer banana goods on the moist side. But take it up to 18 – 20 minutes if you like.
And remember, the more ripe your bananas are the better!
P.S. I made the muffins again since writing this. I tried adding chocolate chips a batch and they were great as a slightly less healthy option!
Recipe
Coop/prep time: 30 mins. Makes 12 muffins. Oat flour is just regular old oatmeal in powder form, which you will do by food processing. 2 cups rolled oats yields 1 ½ cup oat flour (refer to step #3 in directions below for details on that). I also have made these with chocolate chips and they’re great!You need:
- 1 ¼ cup rolled oats
- 1 ½ cup oat flour (refer to #3)
- 1/2 cup plain, low fat yogurt
- 1/2 cup low fat milk or soy milk
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sunflower oil
- 2 large, really ripe bananas mashed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 lightly beaten egg
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup raisins, walnuts or both
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400°
- Mix rolled oats, yogurt and milk together in a bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes.
- It will require about 2 cups of rolled oats to make the 1 1/2 cups or oat flour you need. Just pulse the 2 cups rolled oats in the food processor until they turn to a powdery consistency (like dry grits).
- Now, combine oat flour, salt, sugar, spices, baking powder and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Add mashed banana, egg and oil to the rolled oat mixture and mix well.
- Now add dry oat flour mixture to rolled oat mixture and mix together well. Add in nuts and/or raisins if desired and incorporate evenly. Chocolate chips are great too!
- Fill greased or lined muffin cups 2/3 of the way. Bake for approximately 16-20 minutes.
One Comment
The first time I made these, I followed the recipe exactly. They were delicious.
The second time, I used vanilla nonfat Greek yogurt, peaches instead of bananas, a little ground ginger, and ground flaxseed instead of egg. I used white flour instead of oat. Served with a few bites of plain nonfat frozen yogurt. Amazing!