Comforting banana bread muffins with a crunch of granola hidden inside and scattered on top. A fun treat anytime of the day.
By Traci York
Muffins = Comfort Food 
What is it about them…. not quite bread, sometimes teetering between a dessert and breakfast food. Sweet or savory, they are a grab-and-go snack… or slow food to be enjoyed alongside soup or chili.
And then there’s banana bread or muffins. I don’t recall falling in love with banana muffins until well into my twenties. I’m not even sure when the love affair began or what recipe it was from. But I remember the first time I tasted the recipe from which Banana Oat Crunch Muffins came. It was in my teaching days, it was Friday, and it had been a long week. With the students off to their next class, I headed to a meeting with other teachers. There is where I discovered these muffins.
I remember them so distinctly because they made my day. A fellow teacher had brought them to share, and they couldn’t have shown up at a better time. I was hungry. I wanted to eat. These muffins, y’all. I think banana muffin love has been rekindled.
Part of the crunch factor comes from granola that’s folded into the batter, then sprinkled on top before baking. For this recipe, I included maple pecan homemade granola (Find the recipe here.)because I almost always have some on hand. Store-bought granola can be used, although the muffin will be sweeter due to the increased sugar content of commercial granola; just make sure it doesn’t have any dried fruit in it. These muffins are big and the recipe yields 21 muffins. They’re a delicious choice for sharing at the office, with friends, your fellow teachers, or at brunch. They freeze beautifully too.
Banana Muffins with Granola Topping
- Yield: 21 muffins 1x
Description
Comforting banana bread muffins with a crunch of granola hidden inside and scatter on top. A fun treat anytime of the day.
Ingredients
- 2 C (296g) White Whole Wheat Flour
- 2 Tbs (16g) Corn Starch
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
- 1 C (94g) Thick Rolled Oats
- 1¼C (248g) Brown Sugar, break up any chunks
- 1 C (189g) Melted Virgin, Unrefined Coconut Oil, warm to the touch
- 2 (278g) Large Eggs, lightly beaten
- ½ C (136g) Greek Yogurt
- 2 tsp (16g) Vanilla Bean Paste (or Vanilla Extract)
- 1 C (214g) Bananas, mashed (about 2 bananas)
- ½ C (126g) Bananas, diced (about 1 banana)
- 1 C (92g) Walnuts, medium chop
- 1½ C (170g) Granola, divided
- 1 C (92g) Coconut, unsweetened and shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C).
- Line two muffin pans with 21 muffin paper liners.
- Sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the oats and brown
- sugar. Stir. To the flour/oat mixture add the melted coconut oil. Using a wooden spoon, mix well (the batter will
- be thick).
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, yogurt, vanilla bean paste and mashed bananas until combined. Pour into
- flour mixture and stir in, gently, until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Gently fold in the diced bananas, walnuts, 1 C (113g) granola and coconut until all ingredients are distributed.
- The batter should be thick.
- Using a measuring scoop, scoop ¼ C (82g) into each muffin cup. Or use a overfilled large cookie scoop (#20)
- to make portioning a snap! Use the remaining ½ C (57g) granola to sprinkle about 1 Tbs over each muffin.
- Bake for 2530 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The tops of the muffins should be golden and
- some dark golden brown.
- Remove muffins from pan about 10 minutes out of the oven. Cool completely on cooling wrack.
- Store in a covered container for up to two days or freeze in a freezer proof container or freezer storage bags.
Notes
*Storebought granola may be used (with no dried fruit), but the muffins will be sweeter due to increased sugar content.
