Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins

We bake and consume a lot of muffins at our house and these healthy and delicious ones are a favorite. I hope you have over-ripe bananas in your kitchen, because you need to make these right now.

Oatmeal replaces some of the flour in these muffins  and gives them a great texture. The banana and sour cream keeps them moist and gives them extra flavor. While I’m sure they would still be delicious if you baked them without adding the mix-ins, I can’t say for sure because I always add the mix-ins!

There are several reasons why you need these muffins in your life… Healthy, yes! Moist, yes! Customizable, Yes! Uses fruit that you weren’t going to eat before it goes bad, yes! Allows you to eat chocolate for breakfast, yes!! Do you really need any other reasons to make these muffins?

Healthy Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Yield: 18 muffins

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup quick or regular oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 ripe bananas, lightly mashed
1/3 cup milk (I use 1%)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix-ins:

1 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped pecans/walnuts
1 cup frozen blueberries tossed in 2 teaspoons flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 and line 2 12-cup muffin tins with 18 muffin papers.
2. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the butter, yogurt and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat well.
3. In a blender or food processor, process the oats until they are finely ground. Add the baking soda, salt and cinnamon and pulse one or two times until the dry ingredients are combined. Pour the oatmeal into the wet mixture, add flour and mix until just combined.
4. Mix in the lightly mashed bananas. Stir in the milk and vanilla.
5. Add your mix-in.
6. Divide the batter evenly among the 18 muffin papers.
7. Bake for 16-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (watch the muffins carefully since each mix-in can vary the baking time slightly.)
8. Let the muffins rest in the pan for about 5 minutes and then let cool completely on a wire rack.

Modified from this recipe.