Caramelized Banana Oat Muffins

I love making muffins. Maybe it’s because my figure somewhat represents one at the current time (i.e. 7.5 months pregnant) but for some reason I’ve been wanting muffins in the morning–and afternoon. OK maybe I had 2 for dinner the night as well. No regrets either. Call me a muffin snob but I want a recipe that will actually keep me full. I hate puttering out on energy at about 10am so I gravitate towards hearty recipes like our zucchini flaxseed muffins or chocolate banana muffins. I’m always on the hunt for new muffin recipes so when I saw this caramelized banana oat muffin recipe on Pinch of Yum, I pounced on it as quick as a two year old does when his toy is in the hands of another child. Or maybe just my two year old. I digress. I tweaked and subbed a few ingredients here and there and came out with a recipe that I for sure plan on making again. Here’s how it all went down… (recipe at the bottom of the post). Rise and shine. Muffin making time. The first step to this recipe is to caramelize the bananas. As with most things in my life, my children wanted to be right in the middle of whatever I may be doing. So here we are–in all of our morning glory–me in my husbands shirt because I hardly have any that actually fit me (thank you baby bump). This actually turned out to be a great task for little hands. I sliced 4 bananas about 1/2 inch thick and my little helpers placed them on a foiled and greased baking sheet. After baking them at 400 for about 15 minutes, they looked like this. I mean, gross right? Not quite the image of the beautifully caramelized bananas that I was envisioning. Regardless, I persevered through the recipe. Next, it was time to make the oat flour. Don’t be intimidated by this at all. Oat flour can simply be made in the food processor. I use the same technique for our oatmeal pancakes all of the time. Just dump them in and grind them up! It will end up yielding about 3/4 cup but that is totally fine. Don’t add any more! Now, in a large bowl mix together all of your dry ingredients minus the pecans (oat flour, whole wheat flour, flax seed, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg). Then, you guessed it, in another bowl mix together all of your wet ingredients minus the bananas (half and half, yogurt, eggs, melted butter, maple syrup, vanilla).  Make a “well” in the middle of your dry ingredients and pour your wet ingredients into the well. Stir until they are just mixed together (probably about 15 times). Now fold in your mashed bananas and pecans. Stir just a few more times. Fill your muffin cups up about 3/4 full with this goodness. It’s worth mentioning that I highly recommend using silicone muffin cups. I’ve hardly ever had problems with my muffins sticking to them and I find they are much easier to clean than a pan. Just sayin. Here is an iphone shot of mine before they went into the oven. You can probably see that there is a topping sprinkled on top of the batter. I think this yummy topping is what makes this muffin extra special. It’s super easy to whip up. Combine some oats, maple syrup and butter and you are in business. Time to bake! A 400 degree oven and about 15 minutes should do the trick. Just keep them in there until the tops start to brown and the muffins push back a bit when you gently touch the top. Let them cool a few minutes before removing them from the pan. Then fend off your children as you attempt to take pictures of the final product. Oh wait, that’s just me. #FoodBloggerProblems. Make sure to check out all of our other muffin recipes we have in our recipe index. You shall not be disappointed in what you may find.