Bring the coffee shop home to you with these Bakery Style Banana Bread Muffins packed with good for you ingredients to make a healthy breakfast!
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As the saying goes…
“If you choose not to find joy in the snow, you will have less joy in your life but still the same amount of snow.” And so we snow shoe. And we build snowmen. And I live through the joy in my girls’ eyes at the sight of fresh powder. I am not sure I enjoyed the snow as much as my 3 girls do when I was a kid, but man, it sure is pretty. And we live here – and love it. So for a few months out of the year, I find joy in the piles of snow, and dream of the beach days to come. The winter months also bring a bit of a produce shortage to my kitchen, and that means…bananas!
All the bananas, all winter long
Because bananas are about the only thing my fruit budget likes in the winter. We pile them up in the fruit bowl every week, and inevitably there are a few stragglers at the end of the week that make for the most perfect breakfast muffins! I do have 2 banana muffins already on the blog, so why another? Well this one has a different ingredient profile, so maybe it works better for someone. And these big guys really reminded me of a coffee shop bakery muffin, so my older girls are all over that!
The Method :: The Bananas
Hey listen, I’m all about a banana muffin recipe where you just whir up the bananas right along with the rest of the ingredients and it becomes a super smooth batter. I even have recipes like that on my blog. But this one – we’re gonna take a fork to those bananas because it is worth those few little pieces for texture’s sake in these yummy muffins. Just grab a fork and have at it – it’s still just a “one-bowl” kind of a recipe, and it doesn’t take a lot of extra time.
The Method :: The Nuts
The blended nuts have a two-fold purpose. I wanted these to be a breakfast muffin, so adding an element of protein was easy to do with nuts. But I’m not just going to add almond flour to these muffins – the combination of walnuts and pecans give the most amazing flavor to the banana muffins, and you’ll get a just a little bit more nutty texture to the final muffin too. Yes, you have to pull out the blender, but just like the fork-smashed bananas, I promise that it is worth the flavor and texture.
The Method :: The Banana Muffin Batter
Once you mash the bananas, you’ll whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients – I just use the same fork I mashed the bananas with! Then you’ll add the blended nuts, and the rest of the ingredients. Just a quick stir with a rubber scraper will give you the perfect muffin batter to scoop into your muffin tin. I use a 1/3 cup measure which ends up being the perfect amount to completely fill the muffin cup. If you are going for a “bakery style” sized muffin, this is what you want to do! You’ll get that fun muffin top this way, and it’s a great size for older kids. You can make the muffins smaller by filling the muffin cups less, and you’ll get more muffins this way!
The Method :: The Topping
Because most fun bakery muffins have a topping to entice! Just a couple sliced bananas and a sprinkle of walnuts make a pretty muffin top, and the kids will love it! The walnuts get crispy in the oven and so flavorful. Just place your banana rounds, sprinkle the walnuts, and you’re ready to bake.
The Method :: Baking the Muffins
I went for a higher heat to start with these muffins to get the most rise and a great “muffin top” texture. Once you pre-heat the oven, you’ll put the muffins in and pull the temp down a bit. The muffins will bake for about 25 minutes until they spring back to touch. Let them cool for a few minutes before turning them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely. You can also cool and then freeze these muffins so that you have easy “grab and go” breakfasts for busy weeks!
Swaps?
So I have not tried these muffins nut free. It is a lot of nuts to swap out. I do think blended pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds could work, but I’m not sure how the flavor would be. If you need a completely nut free banana muffin, try my Paleo Mini Banana Muffins! There are 2 eggs in these muffins and I do think they need them for the rise, but typically 2 eggs swap for egg replacer well in baked recipes. You might not get the rise that these muffins do, but it should still have a good texture.
Bakery Style Banana Bread Muffins :: Gluten Free & Dairy Free
Ingredients
- 4 medium ripe bananas
- ½ cup avocado oil olive oil
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup Namaste GF Flour blend
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup grassfed collagen optional
- 2 tbsp flax seed meal
- 1 tbsp chia seed
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees, and line a muffin tin with unbleached paper cup liners.
- Mash 4 bananas in the bottom of a medium mixing bowl until smooth. There can be a few small pieces throughout.
- Add the avocado oil, coconut milk, eggs, and vanilla and whisk with the fork to combine with the mashed bananas.
- Blend the pecans and the walnuts into a fine meal, and add them to the wet ingredients in the bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, and use a rubber scraper to stir the batter until it is just combined.
- Scoop the batter into your lined muffin tin, filling the muffins cups all the way to the top if you want the larger, bakery style muffins. You will get 12 large, bakery style muffins perfectly, or you can make them smaller and get 18 regular sized muffins.
- Put the muffins in the oven, and bring the temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Check your muffins around the 25 minute mark in case our ovens run differently. The muffins should spring back to touch, and be golden brown on the top.
I didn’t have walnuts so I had to substitute with pumpkin seeds. Not sure if this is the reason why my cupcakes weren’t cooked through but burnt on the outside. This happened with another recipe I tried from you too, but I’m a newb. Could you please give me some tips on what I might be doing wrong? My oven is a new model and comes with convection or normal, which one should I be using?
Hi Maggie! I cook with a normal oven, so don’t use a convection, or you’ll have to adjust time and temp. I’d also suggest putting an oven temperature thermometer in the oven to be sure the normal oven temp is registering correctly this needs to be adjusted sometimes especially with new ovens!
Hey Renee, I just made this recipe and although it was delicious, mine turned out a bit gooey inside. I’m wondering if I put too much banana in it. Do you have an idea of how many cup/s of banana to use instead of just the number of bananas? I’m going to try and tweak the recipe next time because they really are good but just wondered if you had some advice on it. Thank you for all of your recipes!
Hi Marian! I have never had that issue, and I know that my bananas aren’t always the same size! Although I never get really large bananas either, so if your bananas were pretty big, that might have been the issue! OR, perhaps your oven temps run a little differently than mine, which is something that can happen – they might have needed a little extra baking time. The next time I make these, I’ll measure out what I have for a better idea on a measurement!
What altitude are you at? I am at 4600 ft. and find I often have to adjust recipes for baked goods to accommodate. I’d really like to try this recipe, but hoping I don’t have to go through a few failures first.
Hi Cynthia! Yes, I bet! I’m at 633 ft.
Do I *have* to blend the pecans and walnuts? We all like nuts and enjoy biting into them, but I’m not sure if blending them is essential to the texture of the muffin.
Hi Stephanie! YES, for this recipe, you’ll want to blend them up – it makes like a nut “flour” so it helps with the soft texture.
I made these last night and I swapped the nuts for pumpkins and sunflower seeds and it was a hit. My picky husband ate two, thank you. I also read the ingredients wrong and added 1/2 cup milk & 1/3 cup oil and they still came out perfect & cooked evenly.
That is a great tip on the seed swap Jasseline! Thank you for sharing with our nut free readers!
I’m allergic to flax. Do you think it would be ok to omit it, or to sub with ground hemp heart or..?
Hi Sabrina! Hemp heart would be a good alternative, or I do think it would be fine to leave it out all together in this particular recipe since there isn’t very much used.
Followed the recipe (minus the collagen by accident, and no walnuts, just pecans), cooked them for 25 minutes and tested with toothpick. It was cooked through, and super moist and very tasty. I personally will keep them in the oven a little longer next time for my own taste preferences- but a definite winner!!
So glad you enjoyed them Megan!
I was surprised how well he turned out. I used Silicone mini muffin pan at 425 and when my thermometer reading was at 210 deg F I took them out. I subbed coconut oil and only used 3 bananas because that was what I had. No issues with gooey inside like some comments said. My toddlers loved them!
HI Vienna! So glad you guys enjoyed them!
If I don’t have flax or chia, what should I add as a replacement to suck up moisture? ?
Hi Trish! You could blend up more nuts or seeds, or just leave them out – it should be fine as there isn’t much in there.