Banana Oat Muffins (with optional mix-ins)

When brown bananas sit on the countertop begging to be baked into something yummy, a lot of people think "banana bread!"  But for some reason I tend to gravitate to muffins.  This muffin recipe is adapted from one of my favorite muffins of all time--Pumpkin Oat Muffins.  I cut down on the spices and also took the sugar down a bit because bananas naturally add so much sweetness.  I also decided to use melted butter instead of oil.

You can add whatever mix-ins you like.  These are delicious with walnuts in them, and this week I went crazy and added blueberries and walnuts.  And my kids love it when I add chocolate chips.  I prefer to use mini chocolate chips because it doesn't take very many to have little bits of chocolate dispersed in the batter.  I treated my kids on a snow day this week to chocolate chips in their muffins and they were quite excited.  I didn't tell them the muffins they were excited to eat were whole grain with minimal butter and sugar. 

Banana Oat Muffins
Yield: 12 muffins
Ingredients:
2 cups quick oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed banana (about 2 large or 3 medium ripe bananas)
3/4 cup buttermilk (or sub half plain yogurt, half milk)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
Optional mix-ins: chopped walnuts, blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. (1/2-3/4 cup mix-ins)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat muffin pan with cooking spray.

2. Whisk together the quick oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed banana, buttermilk (or yogurt and milk), eggs and butter.  Add banana mixture all at once to oat mixture.  Stir just until moistened (do not overmix).  Stir in mix-ins as desired.

3. Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Bake regular-sized muffins for 15-18 minutes (10-12 minutes for mini muffins), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.  Cool in pan for five minutes, then remove muffins from pans and place on wire rack to cool.  

Source:  adapted from www.jennyruns.blogspot.com