This blog post is sponsored by Almond Breeze. The content and opinions expressed here are mine.
Here’s a fun fact: banana baked goods are my favorite sweets, ever. Are you surprised? As much as I love cakes and cookies, my desert island pick would actually be banana anything—banana bread, banana cake, banana cream pie, banana muffins, banana whatever else. I love it all. I don’t think I would get sick of eating a banana baked good every day. In fact, I actually know that’s true, because in college, I got up early every morning just to get to the cafeteria early so I could grab a banana nut muffin before they ran out for the day. And my college cafeteria’s version wasn’t even that good! It was just my thing.
It’s been about ten years since I graduated from college, and looking back, I’m surprised I legit spent four years of my life eating a banana muffin every day. I honestly don’t think I could get away with that now—I’d probably immediately crash from the sugar, not to mention the fact that they’re not the healthiest for you. Unfortunately, the healthy banana muffin recipes you can find on the internet skew a little too healthy, if you know what I mean. I wanted to see if I could develop a recipe that was better for you than your traditionally decadent banana muffin recipe, but not compromise any flavor.
Enter these banana muffins: I’ve made a few substitutions that make them better for you, but still incredibly tasty. I’ve swapped out some of the all-purpose white flour with whole wheat, which will help keep you full until lunch time. I’ve replaced butter with coconut oil, which gives these muffins a tropical flavor that complements the bananas. Refined white sugar is replaced with natural honey, which helps keep the banana muffins sweet and flavorful without any of regular sugar’s drawbacks. And of course, for the best banana muffins, be sure to use bananas that are incredibly ripe and spotty—these bananas have more natural sugars and flavors in them, leading to extra flavorful baked goods. But these muffins have a secret ingredient in them too, that makes them even more banana-y and delicious: Almond Breeze almondmilk Blended with Real Bananas.
Almond Breeze’s latest almondmilk blends their Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze almondmilk with real banana fruit, giving this almondmilk a thick, creamy texture and the perfect touch of banana flavor. Although you can use regular almondmilk is this recipe, Almond Breeze almondmilk Blended with Real Bananas really gives the muffins an extra banana boost. The best part? Because it’s made with real fruit, it has all the extra vitamins and nutrients you’d get from bananas and is sweet with no added sugar. Enjoy!
Some baker’s notes:
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- Because I was making this for a crowd, I made 24 muffins, which is double the batch I would traditionally make if I were baking for a smaller group. But no worries! This recipe scales up and down really easily. For a dozen muffins, just cut all ingredient quantities in half.
- Watch out! If any of the liquid ingredients are cooler than room temperature (which is usually considered between 70 to 75 (F)) and added to the melted coconut oil, the coconut oil has a tendency to solidify and turn into weird, gritty pebbles in the mixture. To avoid this, make sure all your ingredients—especially the eggs and Almond Breeze almondmilk Blended with Real Bananas—are at room temperature. When I was making these, I even popped the almondmilk in the microwave and blitzed it in short, 10-second intervals until it was properly warmed. This is one of the few recipes where it’s better to err on the side of slightly warmer ingredients than cooler ones.
Get the Recipe: Better-For-You Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups 7.85 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1 ¾ cups 7.85 ounces whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup 5.35 ounces melted coconut oil (see baker’s notes)
- 1 cup 12 ounces honey
- ½ cup 4 ounces Almond Breeze almondmilk Blended with Real Bananas, at room temperature (see baker’s notes)
- 2 cups 16 ounces mashed bananas
- ½ cup 2 ounces roughly chopped almonds
- 1 to 2 large bananas, sliced into coins
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 (F). Line two muffin tins with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs until the yolks are broken and the mixture is foamy. Add the coconut oil, honey, and Almond Breeze almondmilk Blended with Real Bananas, and whisk until just combined. Switch to a rubber spatula and sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, mixing with the spatula until just combined. Add the mashed bananas and almonds and mix until just combined.
- Use a 3-tablespoon cookie dough scoop to fill each paper liner with 3 tablespoons of the batter. Place a banana coin on the center of each batter scoop.
- Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the muffins are domed and golden brown around the edges. A skewer inserted into the center of a muffin should come out with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the muffin tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn the muffins out onto the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. The muffins can be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
