Healthier Banana Muffins

We've been looking for ways around here to cut back a little on the wheat and one of the things I discovered we could do is substitute oat flour or almond flour for wheat flour in baking. Now, you can't substitute entirely in a lot of cases without coming up with radical modifications for other binders. Something to do with the gluten and how it makes bread work. I'm not really clear on the whole thing. Anyway, I started adding a little of each to some of my recipes and seeing how it works out.

Just want to note here that although I took out the butter and put in coconut oil, I've got nothing against a little butter here and there. Coconut oil is supposed to be one of the better fats to eat, and I'm going to top my muffins with a bit of butter anyway so I will still get that melty buttery flavor.

Banana Muffins

This recipe has been modified from its original version and formatted to fit your computer screen. I cut the sugar in half, removed the streusel topping, substituted coconut oil for butter, and oat and almond flour for half of the wheat flour. The resulting texture is a little coarser than we are used to but the flavor is just as delicious as the original version. 

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

4 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, oat flour, almond meal, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Mix well.

2. In another bowl, combine bananas, brown sugar, egg, and melted coconut oil. (I like to use an electric mixer). Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture slowly, mixing well until just moistened.

3. Spoon into greased muffin pan (coconut oil also makes a great substitute for shortening). Bake for 18-20 minutes at 375 degrees F or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.  Makes about 12 muffins.