Recipe: Delicious Way to Use Up Ripe Bananas - Healthy Banana Chia Muffins

I keep forgetting that now that it's summer, bananas go ripe in like... a second.  Needless to say, as of late, I've been piled up with tons of way ripe bananas.

What's a girl to do with too many ripe bananas?

Why, make banana bread!

But of course, being that I'm trying to be more sugar and processed food conscious, that makes finding a "healthy" recipe hard.  Imagine my joy when I found this recipe.  Not only is it lower in sugar and butter than most recipes, but also has chia seeds and a little added protein from yogurt.  What luck!

With a few modifications (below), I was able to make this using everything I already had in my kitchen.  With no need to go shopping, I decided to give it a go.  And I'm glad I did!  The muffins turned out quite tasty, and freeze well.  Plus, I fed them to my husband and sister, and neither of them complained either!!

Since it was a success, I thought I would share.

Enjoy!

-----


Healthy Banana Chia Muffins

 

 

 

Ingredients

• 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (preferably overripe)
• 4 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
• 2 whole eggs (the recipe called for whites only, but I hate wasting)
• 12 ounces yogurt (I used two single serve tubs of Chobani strawberry)
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Grease or spray the muffin tins with non-stick oil.

In a bowl, mash bananas and add chia seeds; set aside.

In a blender, grind down the rolled oats until a fine, flour like powder is formed.

In a second bowl, cream butter and brown sugar just until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in yogurt, milk and vanilla extract until combined. Then add the flour, blended oats, baking powder and baking soda, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in the banana/chia seeds mixture.

NOTE: Bake all quick breads as soon as the ingredients are assembled.

Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. A cookie or ice cream scoop works well to quickly and evenly portion each cup. Bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

When done, remove from oven. As soon as they have cooled enough to handle, remove the muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Makes 24 muffins.

Additional note - per the original recipe poster, they estimated nutrition information to be:
1 muffin = 4.8 fat grams, 34 carb grams, 190 calories