Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Maple Walnut Muffins – Vegan and Oil-free

So far I’ve posted a few dinner recipes and a breakfast recipe, so I figured now is just about the right time to put on my baking apron. Today’s topic is MUFFINS… oatmeal, banana, peanut butter, chocolate chip, maple, walnut muffins… to be more specific.

On several occasions, I’ve brought a dozen of these to share at the coffee shop after my Saturday morning group run. So far, they’ve been a big hit. Everybody has scarfed them down, nobody has gagged or passed out, and if there were any resulting incidents of vomiting, indigestion, or food poisoning later in the day, I certainly didn’t hear about them. A few people even said they enjoyed them, which was nice to hear. So here’s the recipe, which I actually sorta created myself, while trying to veganize a handful of banana bread recipes over the last few years.

Bone-Dry Ingredients:

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¾ cup oat flour (you can either buy oat flour or grind up your own in a Cuisinart)
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Sloppy Wet Ingredients:

1 ½ – 1 ¾ cup mashed, ripe bananas (probably 3-4, depending on the size)
¼ cup peanut butter
¼ cup maple syrup
½ tsp vanilla extract

Delicious ‘n Dangerous Additions:

½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup vegan dark chocolate chips

The Process:

1. Add the ripe bananas to a bowl and mash them into a filthy pulp, beyond recognition, with a fork or fruit masher. Add the peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, mix together thoroughly, and set aside.

That’s a lot of banana!

After the rest of the wet ingredients have been added.

2. In a larger bowl, add the flours and brown sugar, and mix together with a fork, breaking up any larger chunks of brown sugar, which you want evenly distributed throughout the mix.

3. Add the remaining dry ingredients and whisk together.

4. Dump the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and mix together with a rubber spatula. Add the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips and mix so that all chunks are distributed evenly throughout.

5. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, line a muffin pan with foil cups, fill each cup to the top, and bake for 20-22 minutes. The muffins are done when a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

6. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

A Few Tips:

I like to let the muffin batter rest for about an hour before cooking so it can fester and expand as the flavors meld together.

While it may be tempting to eat them immediately, these are most flavorful if you wait at least 12 hours before pigging out.

To make the recipe gluten free, omit the whole wheat pastry flour and use all oat flour. In this case, the muffins may be slightly more crumbly, but they’re still delicious.

And the most important tip of all… due to the chocolate content of these muffins, they’re best enjoyed with a mug of black coffee.