Low-Fat, 100% Whole Grain Banana Muffins

rammynoodles's Note:

I make this with Hodson Mill Whole Grain Pancake Mix which consists of whole grain wheat flour and whole cornmeal.... and it's cheap too! This is not a cake-y muffin.... it's lightly sweet and grainy. It's great for breakfast... 2 of these and a glass of milk tide me over for hours. I use Smart Balance Butter Blend because it has butter to give it real buttery taste and the Smart Balance has healthful benefits that butter lacks. The best thing about Smart Balance Butter Blend is that it doesn't sacrifice taste! You could choose to use the same amount of olive oil, applesauce, or even non-fat yogurt instead of butter for even more health benefits, but it may sacrifice the taste. You can use any kind of sugar but dark brown sugar has a lower glycemic index than white sugar. Never ever use margarine in these! Margarine is loaded with trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils), even when the label says 0g trans fats on them. If a serving has less than 1g of trans fats, they can legally label them as "0g trans fats".... which means there could be .99g of trans fats per serving. Trans fats consumption leads to the hardening of arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to heart disease. Also, do not substitute in Splenda for sugar. Splenda (sucralose) is chlorinated sugar (sucrose), which is highly reactive in the body! This is my first recipe here, I hope you love these muffins!

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 12.0 muffins

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (Hodson Mill Whole Grain Pancake Mix)
• 1 cup oatmeal (the kind that will cook in a microwave)
• 2 bananas (medium size, ripe, mashed)
• 1⁄3; cup milk (I use 1%)
• ½ cup dark brown sugar , packed
• ¼ cup butter , softened (Smart Balance Butter Blend)
• 1 egg (or 2 egg whites if you really want to make it low-fat)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients.
3. Pour milk onto dry ingredients.
4. Combine egg, butter, mashed banana. Add to dry ingredients.
5. Combine all ingredients until well blended. Make sure banana is thoroughly mashed.
6. Grease 12 muffin pan or line them with muffin cups.
7. Divide batter evenly among them.
8. Bake 20 - 25. I take mine out right at 20, because I want them to stay moist.

Reviews

[Chef #573772]

The first time that I made these, I followed the recipe as is written and found them to be bland with no banana flavor and a touch dry even when I took them out of the oven after 20 minutes. The second time that I made them I increased the number of bananas to 3 (since most other banana muffin recipes seem to have 3 bananas), decreased the amount of sugar to 1/3 cup and used white, and added about half a cup of cinnamon chips to the batter. Then they were great - moist with banana flavor. I did use real butter since I'd rather use a natural product.

[Chef #1288022]

Yum! These are great and pretty healthy too! Thanks!