A few weeks ago, I set about making a recipe for slightly healthier banana muffins. I wanted to achieve the perfect moist and yummy banana muffin but without a ton of refined sugar and butter.
This was my first try and I think I hit the nail right on the head. After tasting one of these muffins my brother declared them to be "awesome muffins!", and then proceeded to eat 2 more! What a score for my first attempt! 👊🏻
I do already have a recipe for banana muffins that I posted last July not long after I first started blogging. I also have a recipe for banana bread on my site, but I felt that those recipes were rather indulgent, good for brunch but I prefer a less sweet and not as guilty muffin for an everyday breakfast. These muffins are just the thing! With ½ the butter as my other banana muffin recipe and only ⅔ of the sugar, these muffins get the right amount of moistness and sweetness from bananas and applesauce. They are made with 1 cup of whole wheat flour and only ½ cup of all-purpose white flour.
Though I do admit that they are not exactly perfect health food, they are healthier than I would usually make them.
If you add chocolate chips they will also not be as healthy but definitely very delicious, but it's totally up to you! I do believe that it would be frowned upon in our house if I made banana muffins without adding chocolate chips! 😅
A perfect breakfast, in my opinion, would be one or two of these muffins with yogurt and fresh fruit.
I hope you get to make these muffins sometime this week!
Healthier Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- ¼ cup softened butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 4 ripe bananas, mashed
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Optional: ½ cup chocolate chips or chopped nuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Spray a 12-count muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar with a handheld electric mixer on medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds, add the vanilla, applesauce, mashed bananas, and eggs and beat until combined.
- Add the flours and baking soda and beat on low speed until all the flour is mixed in. Fold in chocolate chips or nuts if using.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins filling each cup almost to the top. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes before taking them out of the tin to finish cooling on a wire rack. Bake the remaining muffins making sure to fill any empty cups of the muffin tin with water to prevent warping.
- Enjoy!
Love and cookies,
Naomi
These are great! I definitely added the chocolate chips, though I left out the optional nuts so that I can feed these to my 1-yr-old also. I filled my 12 muffin cups right to the top so that I wouldn't have to bake any extras, and they turned out like beautiful bakery-style muffins. I think I'll add some cinnamon next time because I love a little extra flavour, but the recipe is yummy just as you wrote it.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, thank you for leaving a review!
Naomi
your blog is so cute!! these muffins look great!
Thanks so much, Rebekkah!
Naomi