Banana Nut Muffins

I'm going to do muffin flavors individually for my recipe "log." Sometimes the ingredients change based on what type of flavors I use. For example, less liquid for pumpkin and banana muffins, more for chocolate muffins made with cocoa powder.

For banana muffins I didn't use very many liquids. First I ran 3 small/medium bananas (2 large would work) through the food processor until they were really smooth, and then poured the bananas into the mixing bowl (picture below).

I have at least one child who has a problem with certain textures, so I am often using my food processor so that he will eat what I make. And, by the way, one time I made these with only 2 small bananas, and the banana flavor was not enough for me.

Then I added my liquid ingredients to the bowl: 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, and a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt. I gave them a stir. Next I put my rolled oats in the coffee grinder that I have designated for making flours on the fine ground setting. I ground flax seed in there as well and put all my dry ingredients in the bowl: 1 3/4 cups oat flour, 2 tablespoons ground flax seed, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 cup sugar. I stirred everything until it was mixed, and then stirred in a small package of walnut pieces.

I scooped all of the batter into my 12 muffin cups. For all my muffin recipes I am trying to get the batter to be precisely 12 muffins. I don't like having that extra 2-6 muffins to bake after the initial 12. This recipe makes exactly 12. It will seem like you are overfilling your muffin cups, but with gluten free baking, there is not a lot of rising. You are lucky to get a moist, flavorful, muffin (which this is). So, fill it up all the way. You can see from my pictures what I'm talking about. (Above is the picture of the batter in the muffin cups, and below you can see the fully baked muffins.)

I'm going to add another thing to my recipe next time: salt. I think it should be 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon. I eat my muffins with some delicious, salty butter, so I didn't miss it too much. But, when I tasted the muffin alone, I missed a little salt. Everyone has preferences, so make it how you like it. Another thing I'd like to try is using honey instead of sugar. It is a healthier sweetener than white sugar. As far as I can tell from looking at other people's recipes, I think the honey is fairly equal to sugar in sweetness, so I would use the same amount.

So don't these look delicious? They are!!

 Here's the recipe:

Banana Nut Muffins

Ingredients:
3 small or 2 large bananas
2 T. plain or greek yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups oat flour
2 T. ground flax seed
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 small package of walnut pieces (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir first 4 ingredients ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Add remaining ingredients (except nuts) and stir until well blended together. Add nuts and stir. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups. Bake 15-20 minutes, until muffins are fully cooked inside and the tops begin to brown slightly. (I like to leave my muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes before moving them because they tend to lose their shape if I don't let them set a bit just out of the oven.)