Banana Oat Muffins

Good morning!

I thought I’d begin my blog with one of my favorite things to bake: muffins! Since I had three bananas sitting on my counter going brown, I decided to make banana muffins. Rather than following a conventional recipe, I played around with ingredients and came up with this delicious vegan option. The original recipe called for vegetable oil, but I decided to substitute it with applesauce. I like the unsweetened store brands, but for today I used some homemade applesauce from my pantry. I also substituted flaxseed and water for eggs, although I also like using applesauce instead of eggs as well (as well as pumpkin puree and greek yogurt, although the latter is not vegan).

Yummy homemade applesauce!

Well, onto the baking. First things first, if you’re using the flaxseed egg substitute, you’ll need to get that ready. Just mix one tablespoon of flaxseed with three tablespoons of water and let it sit for a few minutes. I like to do that first so by the time I’m ready for the wet ingredients, it’s ready to go.

Then, you’ll need two medium sized mixing bowls, or one and an electric mixer, if that’s your preference. Measure out the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix them together in one of the bowls.

Next, mash the bananas. I used three smallish bananas and they filled a bit over a cup, so use whatever you have lying around. It can be a bit over or under a cup; it’ll just mean your muffins will be more or less banana-y. Then add the flaxseed concoction, the applesauce, the milk and the extracts.

This is another area where you can feel creative. I’m constantly changing what kind of milks I use (soy, almond, hazelnut, walnut, etc.) and I like to experiment with the different flavors they evoke in a dish. I’ll do a post on how I make my nut-milks, but for this recipe I just used a store-bought soy milk.

You can also play around with the type of extract you use. For this recipe, I used vanilla and almond extracts because vanilla makes everything more delicious and I love the marzipan flavor that the almond brings. If you aren’t accustomed to using almond extract, I definitely suggest giving it a try!

Now, pour the wet mixture into the dry, and stir until it’s just moistened.

It should now look like a big bowl of oatmeal.

Now, for the muffin tins. I use silicon baking trays because they’re so incredible easy to use and clean. Honestly, life changing. Check them out!

I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to ladle the batter into the holes, and it was just about perfect for getting 12 evenly sized muffins.

I popped them in the oven and waited 16 minutes before checking on them. With my oven and silicon tray, the muffins where finished, but test yours with a toothpick to test doneness. I always set my timer two minutes less than the lowest recommended time because I’m always scared of overcooking things; the lowest time was 18 minutes.

Nice golden brown tops 🙂

I managed to let them cool slightly before attacking, but I still got a nice curl of steam when I broke mine open.

Enjoy!

Vegan Banana Oat Muffins

yield: 12

1.5 cups oat flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup mashed banana

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg (or egg substitute, see above)

3/4 cup milk (I used soy)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 tsp each of vanilla & almond extract

Procedure:

1. Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl: flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Mash the bananas in a bowl, then add the egg, milk, applesauce, and extracts.

3. Combine the wet and dry ingredients until just moistened.

4. Scoop ~1/3 cup of batter into each muffin tin.

5. Bake for ~16min (officially 18-20min) in a 400ºF oven.

Nutrition per muffin: 126 calories, 1.75g fat, 29.5 carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 12g sugar, and 3.2g protein.

Some other delicious adaptations could be adding fresh berries or dried fruit, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, cinnamon or pumpkin pie spices, or nuts. I’ll definitely be playing around with this recipe soon!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Zoë