Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins

I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Ok. That’s a lie. I have a mouth full of sweet teeth. Growing up, I always loved to eat sweet stuff for breakfast. My mom always made us eat well balanced lunches and dinners, but when it came to breakfasts, my mom let us eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Count Chocula, and Lucky Charms. Mmmm. I still love all these cereals. I think the weight I put on in college was probably from eating tons of sugar cereals from the dining hall. Although I don’t eat sugar cereals for breakfast anymore too often, I still love a sweet treat for breakfast. That’s where the idea for Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins came from. I know, it’s a mouthful. But these muffins themselves are a mouthful.

I wanted to make a quick, sweet breakfast to grab and go. I thought muffins would be a perfect, grownup sweet breakfast. They just needed to be tasty, healthy and filling and these muffins fulfill all three requirements. They’re made with simple, whole ingredients that you would eat for breakfast: Peanut butter, banana, old fashioned oats and milk. And of course, cinnamon. Because cinnamon makes everything better! And even better, these muffins have NO butter and NO oil, and they are still super moist and super delicious. You can definitely feel good about eating these for breakfast because of all the good-for-you ingredients!Another great thing about these muffins, is that they are super easy to make, they don’t require a mixer and they use up those brown, overripe bananas you have sitting on your counter. How do you make these muffins in a DASH?

First, combine the flour, old fashioned oats, salt, cinnamon and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Next smash two overripe bananas, and mix this with the peanut butter and egg until well combined. You’ll need to use a little elbow grease to really combine the peanut butter and the egg together.

Add the remaining “wet” ingredients and stir until combined. Then add the dry ingredients to the mixed wet ingredients. The batter will still be a little thin and a little lumpy and will look like this:

Fill a greased or lined muffin pan with the batter. Be sure to fill cups all the way to the top!

Bake, and be prepared for healthy, moist, muffin heaven.

Now, I’m going to share a little extra decadence with you. The muffins, as is, are delicious, but if you want to bring them OVER-THE-TOP, you can add a cinnamon sugar topping. It is perfect, little something extra that makes these “weekend muffins”, or what I call breakfast.

To keep these muffins butter-free, you can just dip the top of the muffins in a bowl of cinnamon sugar mixture. Just roll the top around when the muffins are still warm and the cinnamon sugar will stick right to it.

Now, take a big bite into this soft, moist, peanut buttery, slightly sweet, banana-y, oaty muffin.

The muffins are not too sweet, and the peanut butter taste is not overwhelming. I tried to add more peanut butter, but it made the muffins really dense. I wanted a lighter muffin, which is what these are. If you want more peanut butter flavor, you could try adding chopped peanuts to the batter, or make a peanut crumb topping. But, I loved these muffins just the way they are. What could be better than peanut butter and banana combo?! Adding oats to it and eating it warm for breakfast. Yum!Recipe: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffins
Makes 12 large muffins

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of old fashioned oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup peanut butter (I used Skippy creamy peanut butter)
• 2 medium overripe bananas (~ 1 cup)
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 cups milk (I used 1%, but use whatever you have)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
2. In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients and set aside.
3. In another large bowl, smash the bananas and beat in the peanut butter and egg till well combined. Then add brown sugar, vanilla and milk and stir until blended.
4. Add the mixed dry ingredients to the bowl containing the wet ingredients and stir. Batter will be a little thin and a little lumpy (See picture above).
5. Fill prepared muffin cups with batter and bake for 15-18 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.
6. Allow muffins to cool for a few minutes before adding cinnamon sugar topping

Cinnamon sugar topping!

• 2 tablespoons of white sugar
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Combine cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and dip and roll top of muffin in until coated.
Enjoy!  : )

Recipe source: deliciousinadash.wordpress.com

If you like these muffins – try some of my other peanut butter and oatmeal recipes:

The Best Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies, ever (I’m serious)

No Bake Butterscotch Oatmeal Bars

Maple Pecan Quinoa Granola

Maple Almond Cinnamon Granola