Banana Oat Almond Muffins

These muffins were a creation based on a craving. I believe that when we are healthy, our cravings are normally cues about what we should eat. Even when we aren’t healthy, our cravings are still talking to us, but we may need to translate what they are saying. <This post contains affiliate links.> A great book to read on this topic is Women, Food, and Desire: Embrace Your Cravings, Make Peace with Food, Reclaim Your Body.

Anyway, I wanted a banana oat muffin with almonds, and since I couldn’t find exactly the recipe I wanted, I devised this one by combining and modifying a couple of recipes I found.

Although I normally bake with butter, coconut oil is a great substitute, particularly in muffins.  If you don’t have coconut oil on hand, you can certainly switch back to butter.

For this recipe, I used two organic fair trade products:

• Wholesome Organic Cane Sugar
• Nutiva Coconut Oil

Although I’m not one of those “I only buy organic” people, I do believe in investing in what’s important. What could be more important than the food we put into our bodies — substances that actually become us. So I don’t skimp at the grocery store. I shop at Aldi and Costco, but if I want that nutrient-rich (and expensive) fresh fruit, I buy it! I’d rather enjoy my vitamins by eating delicious foods than by ingesting a pill. And I’d rather spend money on costly but nutritious foods than postpone the real cost of poor health later. So there are no apologies about the slightly expensive sugar and coconut oil here. After all, I’m being frugal by using up those four brown bananas, right?

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup coconut oil
2 ¼ cups mashed banana, about 4 medium bananas
4 eggs
2 teaspoons McCormick Pure Almond Extract
almond slices

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the mashed bananas, eggs, oil and almond extract; mix well. Stir liquid mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups half full. Sprinkle tops with the slivered almonds and lightly press into the batter.

2. Bake at 375° for 14-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 2 dozen scrumptious, regular size muffins, plenty to share with your friends.