Banana-Date-Walnut Muffins
I've been thinking about banana bread ever since I saw this banana bread recipe on the Knocked Up Vegan blog. This morning I had a houseful of girls: my daughter E. had her friends J. and K. over to spend the night since today is a school holiday. I decided that instead of filling several breakfast orders (one loves grits, one likes cereal, one says she always eats bacon...) I'd make muffins. I took a look at Miriam's banana bread recipe (above) for ideas and then took a look at some of the muffin recipes in Vegan with a Vengeance for more inspiration. I then decided to wing it! The result was these amazing, tender, fat-free muffins.
Here's how I did it:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup natural sugar (I used the large crystal, unbleached kind)
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1-1/4 cups)
1/2 cup vanilla soymilk
1/3 cup natural apple sauce
2 tbsp. agave nectar
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (omit to reduce fat)
Preheat the oven to 400 and spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray. Sift together the flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. In another bowl, mash the banana with the sugar, soymilk, apple sauce, and agave nectar.
Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add in the dates and walnuts, and pour into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve to everyone who came running toward the aroma of fresh baked banana muffins!
These came out very light and sweet; J. actually asked if I had any "regular" muffins because "these are too sweet." You can probably reduce the sugar with no ill effects. Enjoy!
Makes 12 muffins. Each (including walnuts) contains 144 Calories (kcal); 2g Total Fat; (10% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 171mg Sodium; 2g Fiber.
Without walnuts: 128 Calories (kcal); trace Total Fat; (2% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 31g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 171mg Sodium; 2g Fiber.
Tags: vegan recipes vegetarian cooking food fat-free
Labels: bread
posted by SusanV at 11:21 AM
18 Comments:
Have a good time
Hi Susan!
These muffins look so yummy! I love your photograph of the muffins in the tin. Lovely.
You just may inspire me to bake some, gluten-free, of course. :-)
~k
Thanks, ooranos, for the cool animation!
Hi karina--yes, please make some gluten-free vegan muffins, and I'll post a link here. :-)
Hi Susan,
I love the recipes you give on ur blog. They are easy to make, tasty and most importantly nutritious. I make meals regularly from this blog. Thanks!
Just had a question, is baking soda the egg-substitute in all the cake, muffin recipes that you give? Can I try substitute baking soda in one the cake mixes we get in the store?
Sonya
I don't know how I missed Sonya's comment, but for anyone who is wondering, baking soda isn't by itself a replacer for eggs; it's what makes the batter rise (a levener). A cake mix already has a levener, so adding baking soda wouldn't be a good idea. There are some ideas for egg replacing on this page on my website.
Is the agave nectar necessary to the success of the muffin recipe?
I think you could probably leave it out or use maple syrup or water instead. Of course, if you use water, it won't be as sweet.
These are extraordinary! I have been using a recipe for banana bread from Vegan World Fusion Cuisine that I thought could not be topped, but it has been. I used whole spelt and white spelt flours, respectively, in place of wheat. I also used about 1/3 cup sucanat for the sugar and only one tablespoon of agave (which I think helps the muffins get their golden brown hue). I added a pinch of nutmeg in addition to the cinnamon. I left out the dates completely, but only because I had none on hand (I think they would taste great).
One of the things I like best about this recipe is the texture. The banana amount is perfect - enough to really taste like bananas and not just banana flavored flour. The vanilla and soymilk lend a really nice taste to the moist flavor, but they are not soggy at all.
Thank you!
I made these muffins for the second time yesterday. They are so good , I added some vanilla and left out the agave this time and it didn't change the sweetness to me.
I always make a double batch and they freeze well .
The first time I made them I had one right out of the oven... and I was dissapointed by the taste.The next day I had another one and wow the flavors had somehow melded together as they cooled and the texture changed a bit.My husband likes them too and that is high praise :)
I am not vegan but into a healthier lifestyle. I made this recipe but left out the nectar and dates, the muffins are delicious and guilt free. I was beyond surprised that I can actually bake something without eggs and oil or butter!!! terrific recipe. thank you so much.
This recipe is AWESOME! I keep on making it all the time.
Thanks again!!!
I made these yesterday, and they are wonderful! I followed the recipe, with the following modifications: no agave, whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour, and rice milk instead of soy. The muffins are great, but they didn't rise all that much. Any tips? Should I use some baking soda?
I made these not too long ago, they're amazing, thank you!
Hi Susan,
I have made these twice so far with a gluten free baking mix from Karina's site. They are great! I'm still working out a few wrinkles though. The first time I baked them longer than I should have and they stuck a little to the muffin papers (which seems helpful with gluten free, since Karina recommends taking them out right away so they stop cooking). Then I read that sometimes with gluten free flours and agave the temperature should be a little lower. So tried that. I ALMOST got it perfect with not overcooking. I agree with the other comment that they get even better as time goes on, and they freeze exceptionally well. All in all, a delicious "conversion" I will revisit again and again.
Thanks!
moonwatcher
I just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. My experience with most vegan baked goods has been pretty blah, but these were great. I was really happy with them and my sweet little niece who is allergic to dairy will be thrilled to have a muffin for breakfast. I will try some of your other baking recipes. Thanks so much.
Hi Susan
Can I add an extra banana instead of an applesauce? I have tones of bananas with me right now. Please let me know asap, I need to take it to the office for the competition.
Thank you :)
I can't promise you it will work, but I think you can use banana to replace the apple sauce. Just mash the banana and measure it and only use 1/3 cup.
You can also substitute soy yogurt, if you have it.
Good luck!
I thought the amount of sugar called for in this recipe was excessive so I used naturally sweeter rice milk instead of soy, upped the dates to 1/2 a cup and took the 1/2 cup of sugar down to 2 tablespoons. The results were light and sweet.
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