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Baking with Whole Grains: Best Banana Muffins

August 24, 2006 by Nicole 30 Comments

best-banana-muffin.jpg

If you are new to baking and cooking with whole grains, I think one of the best places to start is with quick breads and muffins. I have already posted a recipe for whole-wheat banana bread and well, I guess I’m not very creative because here I go again with another whole-wheat banana recipe!

I have been working this last week on creating a muffin recipe that tastes great but has fewer calories and more fiber than the muffins I’ve made in the past. Since I love banana bread and I always have some extra-ripe bananas stored in the freezer, I have mostly been working on a banana muffin recipe.

My first couple of attempts were banana-coconut muffins. I was frustrated because I was having problems creating a recipe I liked and then I realized that the reason I wasn’t happy with them had nothing to do with the recipe. I simply didn’t like the texture of coconut in the muffin. I also kept trying to add cinnamon or nutmeg and was disappointed with the flavor. Then I remembered that I prefer my banana bread without any extra spices. So finally, I went back to basics and came up with a banana muffin that tastes like bananas.

I prefer nuts in my quick breads and muffins but many people (including my husband) prefer them without. My solution was to add ground pecans to batter. This adds a more complex texture and flavor but is subtle enough to please the “no nuts” crowd. I used pecan meal that I recently purchase from the King Arthur Four Baker’s Catalogue but it should be easy enough to grind your own in a food processor or blender. I was really impressed with the results so I suggest that even people who love a “chunkier” texture, try using the pecan meal at least once.

I also added some oat bran to increase the fiber and this contributed even more flavor and texture. I’ve never used oat bran in baking before and I loved the results! It added a “chewiness” to the texture that was a really nice surprise. The oat bran I used was Hodgson Mill’s Oat Bran Hot Cereal.

The idea for using buttermilk came from the muffin recipes in Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. After using some of her muffin recipes, I’ll never make muffins without buttermilk again! I think it adds tenderness and although you can’t really taste the buttermilk, it does add that little extra “something” to the flavor.

The recipe below is now my absolute favorite banana muffin recipe. It gives you exactly enough batter to fill 12 regular muffin cups (I hate recipes that only give you 9 muffins!). These muffins are low in fat and high in fiber. They are full of carbohydrates but if you’re on a low-carb diet, you shouldn’t be looking for muffin recipes anyway!! They are 100 percent whole grain which means these muffins do contain a good amount of complex carbohydrates (the good ones). At just over 150 calories per muffin, they are the perfect snack!

Best Banana Muffins

1 ½ C. whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s new Organic White Whole Wheat)
½ C. Oat Bran
½ C. Pecan Meal (1.5 oz ground pecans)
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
½ t. salt

2 T. butter, melted
½ C. honey
3 egg whites
1 C. banana
2/3 C. buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 12 regular-sized muffin cups or line with paper cups.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (first six ingredients) until well combined. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients (last 5 ingredients).
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined.
5. Immediately spoon batter into the 12 muffin cups, filling each cup almost to the top.
6. Place immediately in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking early!
7. Turn muffins out of pan and cool on wire rack.
8. Enjoy!

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Nutrition data calculated and retrieved using tools from NutritionData.com

Filed Under: Adventures in Baking, Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Whole Grains

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Connie says

    August 24, 2006 at 12:50 pm

    wow, quite the post! I love your almost scientific method approach to finding a good & healthy muffin. Plus the nutrition data... bravo. I have cooked with whole wheat flour in the past, like to make yeast bread... but it never rises quite as well and the dough is always super-sticky. I guess I have to give whole wheat baking another go... and with bran or a nut meal! Wow, so many things to try out from your post... now if only my landlord would fix my oven...
    Reply
  2. Nicole says

    August 24, 2006 at 2:41 pm

    Yes it's true about the dough being much stickier when baking whole wheat yeast breads. Once you get used to it though, it gets easier to work with. Usually I use some all-purpose flour along with the whole wheat in my breads to make a little bit of a lighter loaf.
    Reply
  3. Jennifer says

    August 24, 2006 at 3:10 pm

    These look awesome! Banana muffins are one of my all-time favorite things, but since my husband doesn't like them much I don't get them very often. I'll just enjoy yours vicariously.
    Reply
  4. bloglily says

    August 25, 2006 at 4:14 am

    I've heard the King Arthur whole wheat white is terrific, and I'm so happy you've given us this wonderful recipe. We love banana bread in our house, but sometimes you want it to show up in smaller sizes, like these muffins.
    Reply
  5. Lisa says

    August 26, 2006 at 4:34 pm

    Everytime I've tried baking anything with 100% whole grain flour I've been disappointed in the results--way too dense. But I'm going to try this delish sounding recipe with King Arthur flour--they know bakers and I bet the results will be much lighter. I was wondering what to do with all these frozen bananas in my freezer (besides making smoothies). Thanks for the recipe!
    Reply
  6. Pearl says

    August 30, 2006 at 1:31 am

    Now that looks like a good idea. And me with frozen bananas. Hm...
    Reply
  7. peabody says

    September 2, 2006 at 2:35 am

    I love making my banana bread with graham flour. Ever used it?
    Reply
  8. Nicole says

    September 2, 2006 at 7:57 pm

    I haven't tried it, I'll keep it in mind :-)
    Reply
  9. Jenny says

    September 5, 2006 at 10:48 pm

    this looks great but what do you do if you need to keep things nut free?
    Reply
  10. Detlef says

    October 5, 2006 at 8:41 pm

    Thanks for the recipe. My wife suggested I look for a banana muffin recipe so here I am. (I think that she is hoping that my recent success with muffins will translate into more cooking generally!). Anyway, I have had success with whole wheat muffins (although I usually mix half/half with regular flour). I have read that WW flour is more "fatty" than white so may explain why it works differently. I'll let you know how it goes. Great site!
    Reply
  11. Birdie says

    October 19, 2006 at 9:45 pm

    I also am a white whole wheat flour convert. I found a recipe today for a lemon/orange juice/zest fresh cranberry ginger muffin. Yeah, a mouthfull! I want to up the fiber, so I will also be adding some bran.
    Reply
  12. Brett says

    November 4, 2006 at 1:36 am

    Your excellent fotos and nutritional information really add to your recipe's complete package!
    Reply
  13. mamakin says

    March 2, 2007 at 12:25 am

    I also have just discovered the King Arthur store online, and happened upon it when I had seen the jars of yeast in the grocery store had been raised to over $8.00 for 4 ounce jars! I buy the 2lb bag of the red star yeast there for less than ten dollars, even with the shipping, I'ts a steal! I also wanted to leave a tip about the wheat flour, I always replace 1/3 of the wheat flour with all-purpose white flour. It makes the dough easier to deal with, and also helps the yeast do it's rising better. As for the banana muffin recipe, FOUR STARS!!!!!!!! The kids loved them, the husband loved them, and I loved them, thank you so much!
    Reply
  14. Amanda says

    February 10, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    I scoured high and low looking for a healthy bran muffin recipe to incorporate my three overly-ripened bananas into, and I'm so glad I went with this one!! I made them last night, and was tempted to comment then but I decided to wait until I had a second one (cold) today to give my full opinion since everything pretty much tastes good warm out of the oven. Both "versions" were awesome--moist, slightly sweet, and perfectly "nutty" throughout (without any distracting nut chunks). Slight alterations as follows: I ground up my own toasted pecans in the food processor (along with the bran so that I got a finely textured meal), used nonfat yogurt instead of the buttermilk, added a 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp banana extract, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg. I folded in blueberries to half of the batter, and topped them all off with a little streusel topping (extra ground-up pecan meal, brown sugar, and cinnamon). The best part about these muffins is that they taste just as delicious as the butter-laden varieties, but they pack a lot less guilt. Thanks so much for posting this recipe.
    Reply
  15. Ana says

    March 8, 2009 at 8:22 am

    delicious !
    Reply
  16. Sara says

    March 30, 2009 at 10:32 am

    Just made these with my son, so of course had to throw in a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips! Subbed wheat bran for oat bran, two eggs for the egg whites and finely ground walnuts for pecans - result was wonderful. Such a great base recipe. Thanks!
    Reply
  17. Amanda says

    April 14, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    Just wanted to report I made this again, but a slightly different version, and they were great. Instead of the 1 c. banana, I subbed 3/4 c. applesauce and 1/4 c. molasses and used plain yogurt instead of buttermilk. Finally, I threw in some cinnamon, vanilla extract, and 1/2 c. raisins. Oh, and I used ground walnuts rather than pecans. Lots of changes and they still came out excellent--especially when spread with a little peanut butter :) thanks!
    Reply
    • Nicole says

      April 14, 2009 at 7:33 pm

      Amanda, thanks for checking in! Your variations sound wonderful!
      Reply
  18. Dawn says

    May 1, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    I have been looking for healthier banana muffins and I made them last night! My little girls couldn't stop eating them (neither could I). Fabulous, moist, easy recipe. I can't wait to check out some of the other recipes.
    Reply
  19. Tarnation says

    June 7, 2010 at 7:23 am

    I am going to try these and use coconut oil instead of butter. That might give the slight coconut flavor you were hoping to add.
    Reply
  20. Emily says

    January 25, 2011 at 10:45 pm

    I just made these and they're sooooooo delicious! Thanks for the awesome recipe! They taste sinful, but they're really not! The only thing I did differently was add 1 tsp of vanilla because I love it so much. The pecan meal was tricky to grind in my magic bullet, though. I like the idea of using coconut oil given above instead of butter, as I have a lot of that to use up.
    Reply
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