Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

I love muffins, but I get confused where the line is between muffin and cupcake. The chocolate-chip muffins with frosting? How isn’t that cake?

Personally, I prefer a heartier muffin because I like to eat them for breakfast. While I’ve also never had a problem eating cake for breakfast, I first tried this recipe back in January aka the month of good intentions. While I’ve clearly fallen off the healthy eating wagon once or twice since then, these have been a great find. Crunchy peanut butter + banana + no added sugar? And they actually taste good?

I tend to make a batch of these, keep ‘em in the fridge for the week, and bring them in for a mid-morning snack at work. Does anyone else have the problem where no matter what they eat for breakfast, or even if they skip breakfast, ten o’clock rolls in and your stomach is rumbling so loudly people two cubicles over can hear it?

Just me then? Oh well, these muffins definitely hit the spot right around them. I hope you enjoy them too!

Healthy Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Slightly adapted from Heather’s Dish 

I ate these throughout the week by storing them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They dried out a bit by the fifth day, but that was pretty easily solved with the judicious application of some margarine.

Ingredients:

1 medium very ripe banana, mashed
1/4 cup crunchy, all natural peanut butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/2 all purpose and 1/2 whole wheat)
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2-2 Tbsp. honey

Equipment:

Muffin tin, large bowl

Preheat oven to 400. In a large bowl, whisk mashed banana, peanut butter, applesauce, egg, vanilla, and milk until smooth. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and honey or brown sugar. Stir until just moistened.

Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray or line using liners. Fill until about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. The tops should be golden. Serve warm with butter, honey, or by themselves!

Makes 8 muffins