Banana Nut Muffins

I love how versatile muffins are just by changing the ingredients used like the different fruit options, adding nuts or dried fruits, adding oats, adding cocoa powder, and sometimes even adding veggies.  I also love that muffins make a great part of a breakfast, can be a great portable snack, or a perfect treat at the end of a long day.  I also love that muffins are great to always have on hand just by keeping them in the freezer and taking them out the day before (or earlier in the day or reheating them in the microwave works too).

I wanted to make some muffins to have on hand to grab whenever I needed a quick breakfast, snack, or treat and decided I wanted one that had fruit and nuts.  Bananas and nuts sounded like a perfect combination, so when I came across this recipe online I  decided to give it a try!  I made a few changes to the original recipe and made regular sized muffins rather than the mini muffins.

The recipe was adapted from here:

Ingredients:

• 1 large (about 9") banana (I used 1 1/2 banana as mine were quite small)
• 1/3 cup almonds (soaked for at least a few hours)
• 1/3 cup cashews (soaked for at least a few hours)
• 1/4 cup flax seeds
• 1/4 cup coconut sugar
• 2 medjool dates, pitted
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and prepare muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Blend all ingredients in a high speed blender, scraping down sides as needed.
3. Spoon the mixture into liners (note: the batter will not rise as these muffins cook)
4. If desired, add banana slices to each muffin.  (I sliced up the other half of the banana I did not use earlier).
5. Bake for about 20 minutes.

Variation: Top muffin with a "peanut butter frosting" made with

 2 tbsp PB2 and 1 tbsp almond milk

This might be a good recipe to double because it does not make very many muffins.  My batter only made 7.  However, this may be perfect if you are making these just for yourself and don't want too many muffins hanging around.

If you want a thicker frosting, add less almond milk.

I love how easy this recipe is, what can be simpler than throwing everything in a blender and mixing, not to mention the easy clean up!

Or try adding mini chocolate chips!  

This muffin was made for my mom who says everything is better with chocolate! Agreed!