All-Natural Moist Banana Muffins

Last Sunday was my first day back at home, and also my first day on my new healthy diet! Right after a major stock up on all-natural foods at the grocery store, I decided to make some delicious banana muffins based off of this recipe. I made them a few weeks before when I was living with my aunt and they turned out aaamaaazinggg. This time however, instead of following the recipe exactly, I put my own spin on it.

First, the ingredients (I'm listing what I used here, which is slighty different from the King Arthur Flour recipe):

• 1/2 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup mashed banana, about 2 medium or 1 1/2 large bananas
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (or any other variety; soy, rice, cow, almond, etc)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour

When I made these muffins, I didn't use any chocolate chips or nuts because my mom is lactose intolerant, and that's why I also used coconut milk instead of cow's milk. To start, I melted some unsalted butter then mixed it with the pure cane sugar.

Then I mashed up two over-ripe bananas, leaving them kind of chunky to make the muffins have little banana chunks, which is so delicious.

To make the muffins extra moist, I added half a cup of unsweetened applesauce. Half a cup was just right; they were super moist but not too dense.

I mixed together the egg, milk, banana, applesauce, and butter/salt mixture then, with two teaspoons of vanilla for extra flavor. Stir until a uniform color and consistency, but I left it a little chunky from not mashing the bananas too much. If you want really uniform muffins, then feel free to mash the bananas a little extra for a smoother batter.

For flour, I recommend using King Arthur whole wheat flour, however I decided to use wheat grains and grind my own flour. Getting two cups took about twenty minutes so of course I recruited my dad to do some of the hard work ;)

Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Stir it a bit, then add the bowl of wet ingredients. Stir it well until you get a thick batter and all the flour is dissolved.

Pour the batter into a well-oiled muffin tray. Make sure to fill the individual cups nearly to the top since (at least for me) the batter doesn't rise much. I'm not sure if it was because it was so moist and heavy, or because our oven basically sucks, but when baking the muffins they just swelled a bit but never really formed good muffin tops. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-23 minutes. When they're done, be sure to let them sit for about fifteen minutes before digging in - even though they smell so good that you'll want one immediately!

Despite their flatness, these muffins were AMAZING. They were super moist, even now and it's three days later! They came out of the pan with no problems, and were perfectly cooked all the way through. The banana taste was so rich and delicious, with just a hint of apples and vanilla which was phenomenal. These muffins were very light, even being so moist, and I think that they are the perfect breakfast muffins. Everyone in my family, and even my friends, absolutely loved them. Best part: they are 100% all-natural!

My overall rating: 5/5 stars! Delicious!