Banana Oatmeal Muffins
So I had this bunch of biewwwwwwtifool, picture perfect, overripe bananas sitting in my fruit basket, just waiting to be used up.
Of course, I wasn’t about to let them go to waste! Such pretty little things… At first, I thought of whipping up a banana bread of some kind, but since I’ve been on such a big oatmeal and muffins kick lately, I finally opted to make Banana Oatmeal Muffins, instead.
That was a great call, because these guys turned out nothing short of amazing. They’re so good, I honestly wish I could afford to eat one at every meal, and then maybe squeeze in one more as an afternoon snack, too!
Mind you, I do happen to have this major thing for muffins, you know, so I’d have to really mess things up for me not to completely fall in love with one…
This time, I chose to add no sweetener whatsoever to my batter and leave the bananas entirely in charge of giving the muffins a little bit of a sweet taste. Personally, I think that they did a tremendous job at it. Since I’m not really a fan of overly sweet, cupcake-y muffins to start with, these guys are totally up my alley. They have the texture that I look for in a good muffin, i.e. dense and substantial, coupled with a very toothsome yet subdued banana flavor.
I’m totally sold!
Okay, I must admit that I did use a little bit of honey in the top garnish, but that was more in an effort to make it somewhat sticky and crunchy… Say you wanted to make totally sugar free muffins, you could very easily leave that honey out, or skip the top garnish altogether. I don’t think that your muffins would suffer too much from its absence.
So next time you too, have a bunch of overripe bananas waiting to get used up, don’t even hesitate for one second. Give these babies a try; you will totally not regret it!
Before you start working on your batter, it’s a good idea to get all your ingredients ready…
First, you need to grab a bunch of four beautiful, overripe bananas that are desperately waiting to get used up. Then, you’ll need to measure or weigh your walnuts, ghee and buttermilk and take 3 eggs out of the fridge.
Next, in a large mixing bowl, you’ll want to combine your dry ingredients, i.e. the whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix those well until they are evenly combined and set aside.
Also, if you’re planning on using the garnish, now would be a good time to make it: mix the rolled oats, chopped walnuts, melted ghee, honey (or not!) and cinnamon together in a small bowl and reserve.
Finally, preheat your oven to 400°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
Are we ready for action? Alright! Let’s do this!
Place the bananas in a large mixing bowl and mash them with a fork until they are reduced to a smooth puree.
Once your bananas have reached the right consistency, add the eggs, all at once.
Mix them in with your fork until very well combined.
Then, add the buttermilk and melted ghee…
…and mix until fully incorporated.
Throw in the dry ingredients, again, all in one go. No need to get all fancy about it. Muffins are generally very undemanding!
Mix until just barely incorporated.
Note that you COULD switch to a bigger mixing contraption if you wanted to, you know. I think I was personally trying to make a point and prove to myself that I’d be able to make the entire recipe, from start to finish, using nothing that a little fork to mix the batter…
Or maybe that was just me being lazy, too lazy to make the switch!
Now fold in the chopped walnuts and again, stir until just incorporated, no more.
At this point, it would be a good idea to scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure you have all the dry ingredients mixed in… Especially if you too, have been using nothing but a little fork to mix your batter this whole time!
Divide the batter between 12 large muffin cups.
That batter will need to be mounded higher than the paper cups, so try and shape the tops into nice rounded domes, if you can. The use of a large spring-loaded ice cream scoop is strongly recommended.
Alternately, you could also make 18 to 24 smaller muffins instead of 12 super duper large ones; of course, you’d then need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.
On a totally unrelated side note, can you spot me in the above picture? Hahaha! I think I learned a valuable lesson that day: it’s not a good idea to wear a bright neon blue sweater if you’re gonna be taking pictures of reflective objects. Mind you, it DOES add a touch of color to the picture, and they say that a touch of color is always a good thing, don’t they? Right… That’s probably not what they meant, though…
If you’ve decided that you wanted to top your muffins with some of that lightly sweetened and deliciously crispy garnish, delicately spoon it over the top of your muffins right now, and then send the pan to the oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the pan and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.
What I like to do while my muffins are cooling in the pan is to tilt them a little bit in the cups, that way air gets to circulate around them and no condensation can form at the bottom of the cups. You could even let the muffins cool entirely in the pan like that…
Of course, I can never resist having a muffin while they’re still fresh out of the oven… this is an opportunity that’s way too good to pass up, and that will never return, unless I make another batch of muffins, of course!
I strongly suggest that you do the same. And when you’re done enjoying this guy, store the others in a cool dry place, or better yet in the fridge, in an airtight container for about a week.
If you manage to keep them for that long, that is…
Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 4 large overripe bananas, mashed (about 1-1/2 cup | 500g | 17.6oz total)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup melted ghee
Dry Ingredients
- 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
Add-ins
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Optional Garnish
- 3 tbsp rolled oats
- 3 tbsp finely chopped walnuts
- 1 tbsp melted ghee
- 1 tbsp unpasteurized honey
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the whole wheat flour, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix well until evenly combined. Set aside.
- If you're planning on using the garnish, make it now: mix the rolled oats, chopped walnuts, melted ghee, honey and cinnamon together in a small bowl; reserve.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until they are reduced to a smooth puree.
- Add the eggs and mix them in with your fork until very well combined, then add the buttermilk and melted ghee and mix until fully incorporated.
- Throw in the dry ingredients and mix until just barely incorporated, then fold in the chopped walnuts and again, stir until just incorporated, no more. Delicately scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula to make sure you have all the dry ingredients mixed in.
- Divide the batter between 12 large muffin cups. The batter will need to be mounded higher than the paper cups, so try and shape the tops into nice rounded domes. The use of a large spring-loaded ice cream scoop is strongly recommended. Alternately, you could also divide the batter into 18 to 24 smaller muffins. Of course, you'd need to adjust cooking time accordingly.
- Delicately spoon the reserved garnish (if using) over the tops of the muffins.
- Bake in 400°F oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in a cool dry place in an airtight container for about a week.
Nutrition
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