Shelly’s Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins

So it’s looking like I’m going to write an entry about every 2 months or so 😛  The plan going into this was to keep up with it so much better but, what is it they say, “best laid plans…”?  A lot of the problem is that I do things in such a hurry so I can beat the end of Tucker’s nap or squeeze in a workout that I don’t remember to take pictures of the process.  I could just write something up quickly for things but pictures make it so much more interesting and helpful!

This entry is inspired by a blog post that my friend, Beverly, over at Saucy Mommy, wrote recently.  She wrote up an entry (including nice step-by-step photos…see, interesting and helpful and made me wanna try) for Banana Oat Bran Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Perfect timing!  I had 4 VERY ripe bananas sitting on the counter that were about to find themselves in the garbage (or sliced and frozen for smoothies).  I didn’t want to slice up mushy bananas and the muffins looked so good so muffins it was!

For two months now, I have really been trying to eat healthy and exercise 5-6 days a week.  More recently, I’ve started “running”.  The last time I tried running I really hurt my knee and switched to other types of exercise.  So I’m starting out slow.  I’m up to running 5k but I walk and jog so it takes about 38 minutes.  I’m also about to invest in my first pair of good running shoes and I hope to sign up for a 5k at the end of October!  Now, it’s even more important to me to try and eat healthy.

I liked the bones of the Banana Oat Bran Chocolate Chip Muffins but I wanted to try some things.  The recipe called for sugar and 1) I didn’t have enough, 2) I didn’t want to use sugar (I consume enough as it is).  The recipe also called for eggs.  While I have nothing against eggs, and often include them in my breakfast, I wanted to try something…ground flax seed “eggs”.  Also, there were some things I didn’t have, like whole wheat flour.  I have a lot of different flours and thought I had some whole wheat but after already getting things started I discovered I didn’t have any.

After all is said and done, here is my recipe for Shelly’s Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins 🙂  My son enjoyed one and I later had one for a snack, lightly toasted with a smidge of cinnamon butter on top.  I enjoyed the muffin…moist, dense (but by no means hockey puck status), good texture and good flavor.  There was a bit of a bitter undertone which I couldn’t put my finger on.  I didn’t use whole wheat flour so it wasn’t that.  Maybe the flax?  Maybe using honey instead of sugar?

Shelly’s Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins (inspired by Saucy Mommy)

Makes 18 muffins (185 calories each)

• 1 c. oats (the original called for rolled oats or oat bran – I only had quick oats…boooo)
• 2/3 c. unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or milk of your choice)*
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/3 c. honey
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2-3/4 tsp. cinnamon (I like cinnamon so I added 3/4 instead of 1/2)
• 1/2 c. butter, melted and cooled
• 2 flax “eggs” (2 Tbsp. of ground flax mixed with 6 Tbsp. water, microwave for 30 sec. and let cool)
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups mashed bananas (I had 4 small bananas so that’s what I used…don’t know how much it actually was but looked to be about 2 cups)
• 1/2 c. chocolate chips

Instructions

Combine oats and almond milk (or milk of choice) in medium bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. It is important to whisk dry ingredients when baking to break up any clumps and incorporate the ingredients well.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Add the melted butter, flax “eggs”, honey, vanilla and mashed bananas to the oat and milk mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon to gently combine.

The flax “eggs”

I, obviously, did not start out with a big enough bowl when mashing my bananas 😉

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and add the chocolate chips. Gently fold everything together until the flour is moistened – do not over mix.  My batter seemed a tad on the dry side.  I cut back on the almond milk because, when you replace sugar with honey in a recipe, you are supposed to reduce other liquids.  *I would recommend maybe doing 3/4 c. milk instead of the 2/3 c. I did.

Grease or line your muffin tins, fill the tins and bake for 18-20 minutes.  Mine took 18 min.  Make sure you put a little water in any empty muffin cups to keep the muffins moist.

Let the muffins cool in the muffin tin for five minutes and then remove them from the tin and let them cool on a wire rack.

Yummmmm 🙂