My kids look at overripe, brown bananas with disgust and aversion, although I see a diamond in the rough…its baking time! This recipe makes my household’s favorite morning muffins. Actually, these get eaten all throughout the day, but are a great morning muffin because they do not have sugar in them; I use honey to sweeten these treats. Depending on which you prefer, you can add blueberries or chocolate chips; both are fantastic. The best part is you can make them and then throw them in the freezer and only defrost as needed. And you will not need to worry about how long they’ll last in the freezer, because typically these get eaten within just a few days! So never again throw away brown bananas, use them for this recipe every time! Read through the entire recipe before starting as I have some tips and recommendations throughout. Happy baking!
Fun facts about overripe/browned bananas:
- As bananas ripen, the starches in the banana convert to sugar. This is why the banana becomes mushy and loses its stiff structure. So the longer you let the banana ripen, the sweeter it will be when used for a recipe.
- Overripe bananas can be used for banana cream pudding, muffins, cakes, smoothies, pancakes, dairy-free ice cream, banana bread, bread pudding, and much, much more!
- Overripe bananas add flavor and moisture to breads and cakes when used for baking.
- Use your overripe bananas before the insides turn to dark brown or black, as that will indicate the banana is spoiled.
- You can freeze your overripe bananas in the freezer. I recommend mashing first and storing in freezer bags. Take out and defrost when needed for a recipe. Measure your mashed banana or write down how many bananas are mashed on the bag prior to freezing (and don’t forget to date the bag!). I prefer this method over freezing the banana whole.
What you will need:
1 1/4 cup flour (I use unbleached fine pastry flour, although you can use all-purpose, whole wheat flour, or even a gluten free all-purpose flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 medium ripe bananas
1 egg
3 tablespoons honey
6.5 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon almond milk
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (preferably organic) or 1/2 cup chocolate chips (see my note in step 5 regarding which ones I prefer)
24-cup mini muffin pan
Small cookie scoop (I use the OXO Good Grips® Small Stainless Steel Cookie Scoop 1.5T)
Yield: 24 mini muffins
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease muffin pan. You can use a cooking spray, but I generally just use butter. Cooking sprays have many ingredients that are just down right unnecessary. Set pan aside.
*Tip: If you’re using butter, place your pan in the heated oven for 1 minute, this will make it much easier to butter the pan as the pan will be warm. Take stick of butter and butter each muffin cup (does not have to be perfect) then take a paper towel and spread butter into and around each muffin cup.
Step 2: Add bananas to mixer, mix on low. While bananas are mixing, add honey, coconut oil, egg, vanilla, almond milk, and yogurt to mixer. Allow to mix until well combined.
*Tip: Use your tablespoon for the coconut oil prior to measuring the honey. This way the tablespoon will be greased with the oil and the honey will come off the tablespoon easily when measuring into your batter.
Step 3: In a separate medium size bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
Step 4: Add flour mixture (dry ingredients) to batter 1/4 cup at a time. Mix until incorporated. You do not need to overmix.
Step 5: Gently fold in chocolate chips or frozen blueberries.
*Tip: I prefer to use extra dark chocolate chips (such as Guittard) as these chips only have four ingredients: cacao beans, sugar, sunflower lecithin, and vanilla. Check the labels of milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips as they are mostly more sugar than cacao. This being said, the semi-sweet mini chocolate chips also work really well for this recipe.
Step 6: Using your small cookie scoop, distribute the batter evenly in 24 cup muffin pan (1 scoop/1.5 tablespoons per muffin cup).
*Tip: Do not use paper muffin cups, they will stick to your muffins after they are baked. Also, not using the muffins cups will allow your mini muffins to be slighter larger as they are not confined to the paper muffin cup size.
Step 7: Bake 14 minutes
Allow to cool for 5 minutes and remove from muffin pan to cooling rack to complete cooling. Store in airtight container or freeze in freezer storage bag. Never store in the fridge as it will dry out any type of baked good; better to leave on the counter.
*Tip: I almost always freeze my baked goods right away, whether it be cookies, muffins, breads, or cakes. Once these muffins are cool enough to touch, I throw (ok I don’t throw, but rather meticulously place them in rows) into a large freezer storage bag and lay flat in the freezer. This traps the remaining steam and stops the evaporation process, keeping your muffins moist until you decide to pull them out and defrost.