Healthy Maple Banana Muffins
This month, Hyacynth posted a Simple Swap challenge that was right up my alley: Swap out unhealthy fats for healthy ones (replace with coconut oil, if possible).
As you may (or may not) know, I like to use coconut oil in cooking and baking. For some reason I still get a little nervous each time I try it, even though it usually works very well. I hate to waste ingredients!
For this swap I chose to update a banana muffin recipe and replaced canola oil with coconut oil. I also couldn't help switching the brown sugar for sucanat.
I know that canola oil is portrayed as a healthy oil, but I don't believe it is! (I plan to write a post on why. But for now, read this).
On to the recipe:
Healthy Maple-Banana Muffins
Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (sprouted flour would be even better)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup sucanat (sugar)
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
4 mashed bananas
Optional extras:
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 – 1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Grease muffin pans with coconut oil.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon. Stir to combine well.
In a medium-sized bowl, place the maple syrup, sucanat, milk, vanilla, oil, and eggs. Whisk to combine.
Add the mashed bananas and stir to thoroughly combine.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in any extras (like walnuts). Don't overmix the batter – it will result in tough muffins! No one wants tough muffins.
Pour batter into muffin tins, filling to just under the brim.
Bake for about 20 minutes (up to 30 minutes), until golden brown.
Take out of the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the muffin pan.
I'm sharing this post at Healthy 2day Wednesdays @ Day 2 Day Joys
Mmm…sounds yummy, Stacy. I just received a quart of maple syrup in the mail yesterday, and now I know the first thing I’m going to use it for. 🙂
I hope you like them! Perfecting timing on the maple syrup 🙂
Ohhh, these look so yummy! Must get maple syrup …
thanks for sharing the recipe.
I was looking for something different to bake , and this recipe is really original..
I also like the final result, they look so delicious and They really look like “handmade”.
I will try it this weekend
Regards
I was just noticing my bananas turning dark and was looking for a healthy recipe like this. Thanks for sharing!
These were heavenly banana maple muffins!
This is the right blog for anybody who would like to find out about this topic.
You know a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually
will need to…HaHa). You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject which has
been written about for many years. Wonderful stuff, just excellent!