I love banana bread. Guilty, as charged. So to have slowly rotting bananas, is a blessing – if I have the required energy to make something using them. Yesterday, I made a batch of delicious oatmeal banana chocolate chip muffins. Today, I am making up another batch to use up the last of our “too sweet to eat” bananas.
Ever since my diagnosis of potato allergy (say whaaa?), I have stopped keeping on hand all of the usual gluten free flour products that I once did. Once upon a time ago, I made my own gluten free all purpose flour. Now, I mainly use tapioca flour and quick oats. I don’t use anything else, or at least not often.
This is my latest favorite recipe. I don’t get the opportunity to try out new enjoyable recipes very often, between food allergies and chronic illness. So when I tried this out on my life-group and seen they liked it, I knew it was a definite keeper. I have had to make several adjustments, to make this recipe my own.
The basic idea for this recipe is found on Williams-Sonoma and their recipe is designed with your kids’ helping hands in mind.
My Ingredient List
- Quick oats – up to 1.75 cups
- Tapioca flour – 1/2 cup (other flours will likely work, too)
- Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon
- Baking powder – 2-3 teaspoons (if you choose to add in the extra oats at the end, you will definitely want to have the increased amount of baking powder)
- Cinnamon and salt – just a dash
- Sweeteners of your choice – Agave (1/4 cup) and Nevella (3 single packets) are what I chose to use.
- Eggs – 2
- Vegetable oil – 1/4 cup
- Ripe bananas (medium) – 3
- Vanilla extract – 1.5 teaspoons
Bakes at 350 for 10 minutes
Servings: 12-15 muffins
Freezes wonderfully!
Do you have the above ingredients all ready to be used up? If so, let’s get our baking on!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Dry Ingredients
You will need a large bowl. Pour 1/2 cup of flour into the bowl. Then, you will slowly want to add in the oats. I added in 1/2 cup of oats stirred, stirred, stirred some more. Then once I could see it was well stirred, I added in the second 1/2 cup of oats. We want these two ingredients to be very well stirred, because otherwise the muffins might not turn out. I don’t know about you, but it’s maddening whenever my baked goods don’t turn out.
Now is the perfect time to add in the little things that make our muffins taste yummy. Add in a dash of cinnamon, salt, and our three packets of sweetener.
Finally, the stuff that makes our muffins rise. Grab your 2-3 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. Stir it again.
Liquid Ingredients
Now, for our liquid ingredients. To save ourselves the trouble of a big mess, we will be using a gallon zip-lock bag to do our mixing.
Remove the banana peels, and put the three bananas in your zip-lock bag. Lock it in without the extra air, and mash your bananas well.
Once you have yourself some mashed bananas, add in the following ingredients. Be sure to mix with each addition. As you close the bag to zip and shake, make sure you let out the air. This will make this part of the recipe go much smoother. Be careful as you add each ingredient, so the bag doesn’t accidentally tip over – creating a mess.
- 2 Eggs
- Agave (2-4 tablespoons)
- Vanilla (1.5 teaspoons or more, depending on preferences)
- Vegetable Oil (1/4 cup)
Merging the Two
Have you mixed up your zip-lock bag filled with your liquid ingredients? Once you have done so, you will want to carefully pour your liquid mixture into your large bowl. Take the time to make sure it is stirred together well. Now, you can add in your chocolate chips. Best part of the muffins is probably this ingredient right here.
After you have added in your chocolate chips, you may find that your batter is a little more liquid than preferred. This is where I added in some more oats (3/4 cup). Again, mix them in slowly and stir well.
Grab your muffin tin, and spray with cooking spray. The more you spray, the less it will stick to the pan. I don’t have cupcake liners, so this is a good thing for me. Fill your muffin tin up until just after the half way point (about 3/4’s is generally best). The number of muffins you get, depends on how full the muffin tin is. There is no right or wrong way, to go about it. It won’t spill over if you fill it to the top of your muffin tin.
Bake at 350 for about ten minutes. Warning: Make sure you keep an eye on your muffins. The cooking time may vary, depending on your oven.
Viola! You should have yourself some beautiful muffins, by this point. You can easily freeze your muffins to have ready-to-go breakfast or snack. Plus: It is easily allergy free for most people.
