Hours later, we stand in the kitchen, looking at the 25 or so nearly over-ripe bananas on the counter. It was just too good to pass up: $1 for all the nearly-rotting bananas you could carry. Naturally, we grabbed as many as we could hold without a second thought. But now we have two dozen old bananas that need to be used right away. There couldn’t be a better excuse to make healthy banana apple muffins.

There’s plenty of tasty banana things I like to make. Banana bread. Pound cake. Even cookies. But somehow I decided to try a healthy recipe. While they sound good on paper, healthy recipes don’t always translate. Like a sugar free cookbook I picked up from Goodwill filled with layer cakes and cookies sweetened naturally. Blech. My major complaint with healthy muffins is this: they only taste good fresh out of the oven. Wait a few days and they’re a little too moist. They don’t look appealing. These muffins didn’t last a few days, so it’ll remain a mystery. It does say something about this recipe though, which is adapted from allrecipes.com.

Healthy Banana Apple Muffins

1 cup mashed banana
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line 30 muffin tins with paper cups.

In a large bowl, combine the applesauce and sugar, mixing until smooth. Stir in the two eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions. Then mix in the vanilla extract and yogurt. Sift in the flours, baking soda, salt, and spices, gently mixing until barely combined. A few streaks of flour are fine. Carefully fold in the mashed banana, diced apples, and chocolate chips.

Use a small ice cream scoop or tablespoon to fill muffin tins 3/4 full to create raised, rounded tops. Bake muffins for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

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I wonder when we’ll get sick of bananas.

I don’t know what else to do besides bake when the weather throws you a wet, muddy curveball like this one and prevents you from going to the park. It calls for something warm and healthy, with a good handful of oats. Well, who am I kidding. A good handful of chocolate, too. Which is how I ended up making chocolate cranberry bran muffins.

Might I even say these were worth it?

This recipe is super versatile. Use chocolate, or nuts, or coconut, or not. Change the dried fruit, or throw in a grated apple, carrot, or even pear. Add pumpkin or squash and different spices. I bet a lot of tasty variations could be made very easily. Oh… and one more note. These are low fat! At least the chocolate-free original version from All Recipes is. :)

Chocolate Cranberry Bran Muffins

1 1/2 cups oat bran or rolled oats
1 cup nonfat milk (or soy milk)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup semi-sweet, bittersweet, or dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease 18 standard size muffin tins (or use paper liners.) Combine the oats and milk in a bowl and soak for 15 minutes.

In another bowl, stir together the applesauce, sugar, vanilla, and egg. Add in the oat and milk mixture.

Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and gently fold into the applesauce mixture. Be careful not to overmix; a few streaks of flour are fine. Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips.

Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full and bake 18 minutes, or until muffins spring back lightly when tapped and a toothpick comes out clean.

Printer Friendly Version – Chocolate Cranberry Bran Muffins