Banana Oat Bread & Muffins

Hey everyone! Guess what!! I was featured!! I linked last week`s Baked Salmon Parmesan recipe up to Joyful Homemaking`s Thursday Think Tank party and they liked it! Woo Hoo!!

So, you know that moment at the end of the week, when you take the bananas that are starting to over ripen and chuck them into the freezer planning on throwing together a quick batch of banana bread? Yeah, well, I had about 6 of those moments, except that I never got around to baking that quick batch of banana bread. So last night, after moving around yet another bunch of frozen bananas, it was time to take action.

I have a great banana bread recipe in my arsenal, but I wanted to try something new this time. Now that we have found another food that Miss A will actually eat in her lunch (she’s anti-sandwich, and pretty much everything else…). I needed to find a way to make it a bit healthier and wanted to find a recipe using oats so I headed to Allrecipes.com. I found this recipe for banana oat muffins and after a few small ingredient modifications, had a delicious recipe that made great use of some of the EIGHTEEN bananas in my freezer.

The streusel topping for the recipe is an optional add-on – it’s super delicious, but the muffins were fantastic without it. I used a mini-loaf pan and a giant muffin pan for my first go-round with this recipe. The second time around I doubled the recipe and it made three full sized banana bread loaves.
 
Banana Oat Muffins (or Banana Oat Bread)
Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients
1 cup oats, ground in food processor
1 cup flour
2 tbsp oats
½ cup chopped walnuts/pecans or chocolate chips
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup applesauce
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cup mashed bananas (about 3 medium)
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup greek yogurt or sour cream
 
Streusel topping
1/3 cup oats
4 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp melted butter

Instructions

Using a processor (I just have a mini chopper thingy), grind oats until powdery.

In a bowl, combine ground oats, flour, oats, nuts/chocolate chips, baking soda and baking powder; set aside. With the mixer on low, combine applesauce, white and brown sugar, eggs, mashed banana and vanilla. When well incorporated, add the greek yogurt and mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet and blend completely. Scoop into a greased muffin pan, mini or regular loaf pan. Mix together the streusel ingredients in a small bowl. Sprinkle across the top of the batter and bake. 

For muffins and mini loaves, bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes clean. 

For full sized loaves, bake for 45-50 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!! Miss A took two of the mini loaves for her lunch today and asked for more when she got home from school. I think we have a hit on our hands!!

I’ll hopefully link this recipe up to a couple of fun link parties, including Joyful Homemaking, Delightful Order, and A Bowl Full of Lemons.

Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate it :)