Mostly Vegan Banana Berry Bran Muffins

Today, I decided to make muffins. I was craving something sweet - yet wholesome, as I wanted something that I could quickly scarf down before heading to my torturous 9 AM boot camps this week. I hadn’t made muffins in awhile and with a few browning bananas on my counter and a couple pints of blackberries in my fridge (picked up on sale from H&W Produce - LOVE that place!), I decided on Banana Berry muffins…with bran. Because I’m a firm believer that muffins are nothing more than ugly cupcakes and hold very little nutritional value for the most part. So, with the addition of bran and substituting maple syrup for sugar, I convinced myself that these muffins would be more or less healthy.

Well, healthy-ish.

I also ended up making them almost entirely vegan…mainly because I had no eggs. I did add a couple dollops of yogurt however, which killed the intention of dairy-free muffins but added some lovely moisture. I think all muffins need yogurt.

Plus, I just love yogurt. Especially good, old-fashioned, full-fat yogurt. I could never be vegan for that reason alone.

Anywho, they turned out pretty good! Especially considering I came up with the recipe almost entirely from scratch. I researched a number of banana bran muffin recipes and put this one together…it may be a keeper!

90% Vegan Banana Berry Bran Muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bran (I used wheat bran but oat bran would be better)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 medium bananas
1/4 cup soy milk (or any dairy-free milk alternative)
1/4 cup maple syrup (honey would work nicely too)
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons yogurt (Wanna go all-vegan? Use soygurt!)
1 handful blackberries (or any berries you have on hand…walnuts would be nice too)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400º F.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In another bowl, mash the bananas and then add the milk, syrup, oil, vanilla, water and yogurt.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring until it just comes together – don’t overmix! Fold in the berries. Spoon batter into a standard 12-cup muffin tin (I lined mine with paper liners to avoid sticking…especially because my berries were huge).

Bake at 400º F for about 15-20 minutes, or until tops are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes about 12 big muffins.


Enjoy!! Feel free to slather these in peanut butter…I did. And it was awesome.