Apple Walnut Banana Breakfast Muffins

Baking success!  For the first time in months, I've created a keeper!  

These Apple Walnut Banana Breakfast Muffins are all kinds of amazing.

The day after we returned home from Ireland, we went apple picking.

And I got my baking mojo back.  Over the weekend I made apple pie and apple crisp, and last night I made these muffins.  Apples, bananas, flax, oats, walnuts, molasses, buttermilk....and no added fat.

These muffins are incredibly moist and flavourful, and I'll be whipping up another batch tomorrow because they didn't last long!

I'm still working on getting all of our Ireland photos uploaded.  Will be sharing the highlights soon!

Apple Walnut Banana Breakfast Muffins

Makes 18 muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

1 cup oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 large or 2 small apples, chopped

1 cup buttermilk*

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 large or 2 small bananas, mashed

1/4 cup molasses

1 tsp vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.  Grease a muffin pan, or use paper liners.  In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients, then stir in the apples.  Do not overmix.

Fill muffin cups and bake for 16-18 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick inserted into centre of muffin comes out almost clean.  Cool in muffin pan for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.

*If you don't keep buttermilk on hand, make your own buttermilk with one tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar for each cup of milk. Put the tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar in your measuring cup, then add the milk to measure one cup of buttermilk. Allow to sit for a few minutes before combining with the other ingredients.

Loosely adapted from this recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

Looking for more wholesome muffin recipes?  Try these!

  

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Spiced Apple Sweet Potato Muffins

A couple years ago (wait, what?  Cue all of the time-goes-by-too-fast feelings...) I shared a recipe with you.  It was a fruity quinoa loaf, inspired by a pathetic looking fruit basket.

This weekend I was inspired to make Spiced Apple Sweet Potato Muffins.

There is never a shortage of over-ripe fruit around here.  Bananas that are past their prime get frozen for smoothies, as do berries and grapes.  Apples, pears, and peaches usually end up in baked goods.  I don't even want to talk about avocados.

The slightest hint of a bruise, and an apple around here is no longer fit for human consumption.  So I often end up slicing them for dipping, or chopping them up for muffins.

These muffins turned out perfectly tender, sweet, and fruity.  The sweet potato is cooked and mashed,  the apples are finely chopped for maximum flavour, and the spices are just right.

Got apples?  Make muffins.  Specifically, these muffins.

Spiced Apple Sweet Potato Muffins

1 large sweet potato, peeled, cooked, mashed, and cooled.

3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

3/4 cups sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

4 medium sized apples, peeled, cored, and chopped, approx. 3 cups total

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

The sweet potato can be cooked in the oven, 1 hour at 400°F, or in the microwave, on high for 5 minutes.  Don't boil it.  It will retain to much moisture and you'll end up with mushy muffins.

Peel and chop your apples.  Toss with the lemon juice and zest.

Preheat oven to 400°F.  I have a convection oven so I set it on 375°F.  Grease your muffin tin or line with paper liners.

Combine the sweet potato, milk, coconut oil, sugar and egg.  Stir until well mixed.

In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients until well combined.  Add the wet ingredients and stir until just barely combined.  You don't want to overmix muffin batter or you'll end up with hard muffins.  A few streaks of flour is OK.   

Stir in the apples and spoon into the muffin cups, filling almost to the top.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 18 muffins.

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Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Hemp Seed Muffins

I was up at 5am today.  Early enough that I finished two cups of coffee before the sun even came up.  Usually, I'm hitting the snooze button at 6am, sometimes even at 6:30am... playing the can-I-still-get-ready-and-get-lunches-packed-in-less-than-an-hour game with myself every time I whack the alarm clock.

I am not a morning person.

But this morning I was on a mission.  Evenings have been busy since school and hockey have started back up.  We spent most of the weekend at a hockey tournament, and even though I was patting myself on the pack for getting the laundry done, the much needed trip to the grocery store didn't happen.  Instead we were picking up milk, bread, bananas, juice, hot dogs, and pizza on our way back and forth to the tournament.

Last night, after spending the evening back at the rink, I realized there wasn't a bagel or slice of bread left in the house.  No cold cuts, no cream cheese.  The staples required to feed my sandwich and bagel loving crew were gone, and I was too tired to do anything about it.  So I did what I've done many times before.  I set my bread maker on time delay, and got busy making pizza buns bright and early this morning.

Of course, there weren't any granola bars left either...just three empty boxes sitting in the cupboard masquerading as granola bars.  So while the pizza buns were rising, a quick batch of muffins took shape.

Over-ripe bananas, oatmeal, chocolate.... and hemp seeds.  I sort of  felt like I was cheating on my beloved chia seeds when I threw them in, but these are some healthy little seeds, and they made me feel a whole lot better about the pizza and hot dogs.

 

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Hemp Seed Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• ½ cup milk
• 1 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ cup hemp seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 3 ripe bananas - mashed
• ⅓ cup oil
• 1 egg
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 375°F and line a muffin tin with 12 baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, mix together oats, hemp seeds, yogurt and milk. Set aside to soak for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour through nutmeg.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together mashed bananas with oil and egg. Add to the soaking oat mixture and stir to combine.
5. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until just barely combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Do not overmix or you’ll end up with tough, dry muffins.
6. Scoop batter evenly into 12 lined muffin tins, filling each to about 3/4 full. Bake until toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

This made 18 small muffins.  I should have doubled the recipe!

Click here to go to my Pizza Buns recipe:

And if you're looking for another chocolatey oatmeal muffin, try this one.  It has pumpkin, flax, and chia seeds:

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Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins

We spent the better part of the weekend preparing hubby and number one son for their trip across the pond this week.  There was last minute shopping and a mountain of laundry to work through.  Seriously, I think these kids conspire against me.  No sooner can I see the laundry room floor, and someone decides to 'clean' their room... ie. move the heap of clothes from their bedroom floor to the laundry room floor.

Fast forward to Sunday night...my big boys are on their flight and I realize that baking needs to happen if anyone wants snacks in their lunch the next day.  I was so focused on the ones that were leaving that I'd given little thought to the upcoming week for those of us still at  home.

I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge from the homemade dog treats I'd made earlier in the week, and the idea of oatmeal muffins with pumpkin began to take shape.  As with any baking around here that starts out with the healthiest of intentions, chocolate becomes part of the equation to make it more agreeable to fussy palates.  So, Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins with Flax and Chia were created.  

Photos taken with my phone, late at night, as my camera has gone overseas with my boys.  I hope it comes back with hundreds of new photos.  And in one piece.  

The flax seeds are milled, and the oatmeal has been processed into a coarse flour in the food processor, so that the muffins have a finer texture than some of the multigrain versions I've tried.  The chia seeds soak in a milk bath to plump them up.

Rich, dark cocoa and chocolate chips hide all the healthy things going on in here.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins with Flax and Chia.  Deliciousness.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Chocolate Muffins with Flax and Chia

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup canned pumpkin

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tbsp chia seeks, soaked in 3 tbsp milk for 10 minutes

1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats, processed in food processor for 30 seconds

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup milled flax seeds

1 cup chocolate chips, I used a mixture of white and milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Prepare muffin tin.  I use cupcake liners for easier clean-up, but you can also grease and flour the muffin tin.  Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.  Whisk in processed oats and flax seeds until well combined.  

Cream together vegetable oil, pumpkin, eggs, soaked chia seeds, and brown sugar in a separate bowl.  Add milk and vanilla, whisk together until well combined.  Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Let batter sit for 10 minutes so that the oats and flax can absorb some moisture from the batter.  The batter will be thick.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling almost to the top.  I got 18 muffins out this recipe.  If you aren't able to fill the entire muffin tin when you make the second batch, fill the empty muffin cups halfway with water before you put it in the oven.  Bake 15 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Let muffins cool in tin on cooling rack for 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.  Allow to cool completely before devouring.

 

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