Banana Berry Oat Muffins

My fruit bowl has been full of some very ripe bananas for several days now.  Normally,  I would peel them and cut them up into pieces, then pop them into a freezer bag and freeze for some banana "ice cream", but my freezer had plenty of frozen bananas in it already.  So....I decided to search for a recipe.  The first thing I made was an EPIC FAIL!  ( see, I told you if it isn't good, it doesn't make the blog!)  It was a banana cake that ended up down the disposal!

I still had several banana left to use up, and saw a recipe for Cranberry Banana Oat Bread on the Whole Foods Market Recipes app that looked pretty good.  So this morning, I thought I would give another banana recipe a go.  This one turned out great!!  I decided to do muffins instead of bread and used a dried mixed berry combo in place of the cranberries.  They made the whole house smell wonderful and I even had one for breakfast.

The original recipe called for 1/4 tsp. of fresh squeezed lemon juice, and since I didn't have a lemon already cut into, and decided I wasn't about to cut into one for 1/4 tsp. of juice, I subbed plain white vinegar ( I am assuming the lemon juice was there for the acid component for the baking powder) and it worked out just fine!

I have said before, I am just not that big of a muffin fan...but I did enjoy my muffin this morning! 

Banana Berry Oat Muffins

adapted from Whole Foods Market Recipes

Printable Recipe

Servings - 14 muffins   Serving size - 1 muffin   Points Plus per serving - 5 points+

Calories - 175,   Total Fat - 6.4g,    Carb. - 27.7g,   Protein - 2.8g,   Fiber - 1.5g

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup quick cooking oats

1 TBS. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup dried berries ( such as cranberries, blueberries, cherries )

1 1/4 cup mashed bananas ( approx. 3 med-large sized) 

2 large eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. fresh lemon juice OR white vinegar

1 TBS. raw sugar ( to sprinkle on top of muffins before baking - optional) 

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat muffin wells with cooking spray or line with paper or foil liners.  ( recipe yields 14 muffins, so you will need two pans.) 

2.  In large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, salt and dried berries.  Set aside.

3.  In med bowl, combine the banana, eggs, oil, sugar and lemon juice OR vinegar. 

4. Combine the wet with the dry ingredients and mix until JUST combined.  DO NOT overmix!  

5.  Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full.  Sprinkle with raw sugar.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.   Cool on rack. 

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It seems I have been hitting a bit of a dry spell with cooking ideas.  I don't know why I do this....I have PLENTY of resources at my disposal...but every now and then...I just don't know what to make.  This would be part of the reason why recipes have been a bit scarce lately.  Maybe with this banana muffin recipe, I am out of my slump!  

I have been watching the show Masterchef lately.  Anyone else watch that show?  It's home cooks competing for the title of Masterchef and the monetary prize that goes along with it.  I cannot imagine myself competing!  I seriously do not know how they do it.  I need recipes....it doesn't look like they use any.   I will just stick to my blog!  lol 

Do you watch Masterchef?  What do you do when you are in a cooking idea slump?  

This post is being shared with:

Tasty Tuesday @ Beauty and Bedlam
Mouthwatering Mondays @ A Southern Fairytale