banana

Mini Banana Muffins

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

We’re back to school, here, which means it’s back to baking some snacks and treats for the kids to take with their lunches. If you’re new around here, here’s something you should know — we eat a lot of muffins, so I bake a lot of muffins. 

My oldest son now has snack OUTSIDE during the school day – it’s the same time as his recess – so he asked me to start packing him some smaller, bite-sized snacks. I’ve made energy bites (maybe that recipe will come soon), and the latest snack for him and his sister to bring — mini banana muffins. 

Now, I’m not claiming these are the healthiest recipe. But since they’re homemade, have some flaxseed and white whole wheat flour, I’d like to think they’re healthier than those pre-packaged muffins I’ve seen at the store. And they’re super easy and fast – in one hour (or less if you’re faster than me and not sidetracked with your ADHD) on a Sunday, you have snack for the week ready to go.

Mini Banana Muffins

Here’s what you need:

  • 3 medium, ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup melted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 2 TB ground flaxseed (optional, but adds some fiber
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice mix
  • Optional: cinnamon-sugar for sprinkling on top

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 24-count mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
  2. In a small bowl, combine flour, flaxseed, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  
  3. In a large bowl, melt the butter. Then add mashed banana, honey, egg and vanilla.  Combine well.
  4. Add dry ingredients into the large bowl with banana mixture. Stir with a spatula to combine, but don’t overmix.  
  5. Pour batter into prepared muffin tin.  
  6. Bake until a toothpick inserted into muffins comes out with a few crumbs (not wet mixture), about 11-12 minutes. 
  7. Cool before enjoying.  

These store well in the fridge for about 5 days, but I like to keep them in the freezer and take them out the night before enjoying them. I pack 2-3 for my kids’ snacks the night before in their backpack and they’re defrosted and ready-to-eat by their snack time the next day!

Some questions for you:

  • What kind of snacks do you or your kids enjoy?
  • What’s your favorite muffin flavor? Are you a corn muffin, banana or blueberry muffin lover?

POWER Muffins (a.k.a. Sweet Potato, White Bean, Spinach + Banana Muffins)

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

Those of you who aren’t new around here know that my kids love muffins. In fact, when my oldest was a toddler, we called him the Muffin Man, because he ate so many of them. So since then, I’m always looking for a good muffin recipe that is healthy, easy to make, and kid approved. And now that he’s in school and taking nut-free snacks, I am making more muffins that are nut free so he can bring them in. 

These muffins have protein, fiber and vegetables. Oh, and chocolate! What’s not to like? That’s why we call them POWER muffins! 

Power muffins - i crashed the web

POWER Muffins

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 cup sweet potato, cooked and mashed
  • 1/2 banana (about 1/3 cup mashed)
  • 1/3 cup fresh spinach
  • 1 can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup avocado oil
  • 1/3 cup maple syrup
  • 2 eggs  
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon  
  • 1/3 cup oats
  • 1/4 cup flaxseed
  • 1/2 cup flour (I’ve used white whole wheat and all purpose)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your muffin tin – I use silicone reusable baking cups and spray them with non-stick cooking spray.  
  2. In a food processor, combine sweet potato, banana, spinach, beans, eggs, oil and syrup.
  3. Add cinnamon, oats and flaxseed and mix well.
  4. Add in flour and baking soda and pulse a few times until combined.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
  6. Bake muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. 
  7. Cool muffins and then enjoy! I like to keep 6 out and then freeze 6 so I have individual muffins ready to go whenever. I simply take one out of the freezer and defrost overnight OR in the microwave. 

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Seeking a non-healthy muffin? Give these a try instead!

Some questions for you:

  • What do you do with spinach? We just bought a big tub of it at Costco!
  • What’s a healthy-ish recipe you made recently?

Healthyish Banana Zucchini Muffins

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

My kids love muffins. They always have. And who could blame them? Tiny pieces of cake in a muffin-like single-serving shape? What’s not to like?

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These muffins are sweet enough that my kids call them “treat muffins” (they’re sweeter than my spinach/zucchini/carrot muffins), but healthy enough to be called “healthyish.” They use honey instead of refined sugar, and white whole wheat flour. I also add in half a zucchini for some moisture and added veggies – but these truly taste like just your every day banana muffins! They’re easy to make if you have about 2 bananas on hand, so much that I’ve asked my family to set aside 2 bananas and NOT eat them, just so we can make these. 

healthy banana zucchini muffins - i crashed the web

Healthyish Banana Zucchini Muffins

Here’s what you need:

  • ½ cup honey
  • ⅓ cup avocado oil
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 large bananas, mashed (mine came out to be a little over 1 cup in volume)
  • 1/2 zucchini, grated – pat with a paper towel to remove excess moisture (Note – I have made these without zucchini and haven’t had to change anything up, they’re still good just no added veggie)
  • ¼ cup almond milk (this is my favorite almond milk; you can use regular milk if you like)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (my kids love cinnamon, but if you’re not a big fan you can omit this or add in less)
  • 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour  
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • blueberries, optional

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare your muffin tin – I use silicone reusable baking cups and spray them with non-stick cooking spray.  
  2. In a large bowl, mix honey, avocado oil and eggs.
  3. Add in the mashed bananas, grated zucchini, milk and vanilla extract. Mix well.
  4. On the side, combine the dry ingredients — the cinnamon, flour, salt, baking soda. Add into the wet mixture and mix until just combined. DO NOT overmix!  
  5. Optional — add in blueberries or other add-ins. Suggestions include dried cherries or chocolate chips 🙂 I added in blueberries to a few of the muffins but not all. If you want to have blueberry (or another add-in) throughout, add in about 3/4-1 cup. 
  6. Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups. Bake muffins for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Mine took about 24 minutes.
  7. Cool muffins and then enjoy! I like to keep 6 out and then freeze 6 so I have individual muffins ready to go whenever. I simply take one out of the freezer and defrost overnight OR in the microwave. 

Nutrition info (I borrowed this from MyFitnessPal – I am not a dietician, just someone who likes to bake and make treats sometimes a little healthier, and I can’t claim 100% accuracy)

banana muffins

Seeking a non-healthy banana muffin? Give these a try instead!

Some questions for you:

  • Do you have a go-to muffin recipe?
  • What’s a healthy-ish recipe you made recently?

Peanut Butter Banana Bread (a.k.a. GLORIOUSNESS)

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Apparently this is the summer of me baking breads. It started with strawberry bread. And then blueberry lemon bread. And this week? Peanut butter banana bread. That’s right – peanut butter + banana, baked into a dessert-like bread.

It tastes as good as it sounds (but not was good as it looks – sorry the pictures are not that good. The bread is just not photogenic with my phone camera).

If you like peanut butter and/or bananas, this bread is for you. Even if you don’t really like bananas, but enjoy dessert/quick breads, this is for you. It’s moist (#sorryimnotsorry) and dense, with  the perfect amount of sweetness to make it a great snack, breakfast, or dessert. Promise me you’ll try it out sometime, okay?

 

peanut butter banana bread_i crashed the web

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Here’s what you need:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperatre
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 4 overripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (+1 Tbs flour, which you’ll use below)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup peanut butter chips, tossed in 1 Tablespoon flour

For glaze (optional):

  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1-2 Tablespoons milk (I used a little over 1 TB to achieve the consistency I liked – an I had only coconut almond milk on hand and it was perfect!)
  • 1 tablespoon  peanut butter

Here’s what you do:

  1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs and mashed bananas. Combine with an electric mixer.
  3. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture.
  4. Mix in peanut butter chips tossed on flour
  5. Spray loaf pan with Pam or other cooking spray. Pour banana batter into greased loaf pan.
  6. Optional – sprinkle additional peanut butter (or chocolate!) chips on top of uncooked loaf.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
  8. To add glaze, let cool for 30 minutes or until cool to the touch. Whisk together sugar, milk and peanut butter and drizzle on top of bread. Enjoy!

peanut butter banana bread_i crashed the web

enjoy!

Itty Bitty Baby Banana Muffins

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

Bananas. Love ’em? Hate ’em? I have a love hate relationship with them. Some days I can’t stand the sight or smell of them. But I ALWAYS love banana muffins and bread. Don’t you?

I wanted to bring something with me to Melgar’s wedding for when we ladies were getting ready. We had fruit, veggies, sandwiches, and other food coming, but I thought it may be nice to bring some snacks for us ladies to enjoy while getting ready in the morning. So the first thing that came to mind was mini muffins! I’ve honestly never made mini muffins and was a little nervous they’d come out dry or burnt, but this recipe worked out perfectly. The next time you need to bring an easy breakfast or snack that’s shareable, I HIGHLY recommend you bring these. Oh and if you aren’t looking for mini muffins, then I suggest you try these larger muffins that I’m also a big fan of: Banana Crumb Muffins.

mini banana muffins~i crashed the web

Mini Banana Muffins

Here’s what you need:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Here’s what you do:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin tins with mini muffin liners.
  2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  3. Mix mashed bananas, sugars, egg, butter and vanilla in a large bowl. Add in flour mixture with a spatula, and mix until smooth. Do NOT overmix. I purposely mixed with a spatula and folded the flour mixture in. If you use your stand mixer, mix very briefly – overmixed muffins are tough!
  4. Scoop batter into lined muffin pans and bake mini muffins for 12 to 15 minutes. Muffins are done when lightly browned on top and a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean with no batter.
  5. For fun, I also added a few chocolate and peanut butter chips to the top of a few before baking. Definitely recommend that 🙂

mini banana muffins - i crashed the web

Best Banana Bread Recipe

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 3 Comments

I’m a creature of habit. Whenever I have old bananas, I make banana muffins. I think B sometimes deliberately leaves 3 bananas to turn brown, just so I’ll make him muffins. I’ve probably made this banana crumb muffin recipe 6 times already this year. Don’t get me wrong – the recipe is a great one, and each muffin (or two) makes for a quick and easy breakfast (and they freeze well!), but  it was time for something new.

So what else to make? After pining over recipes of banana cinnamon cake, banana peanut butter cookies, banana cream pie and more, I ended up with a tried and true recipe — banana bread. Only made one change to this traditional recipe – I sprinkled some peanut butter chips on half the loaf, and saved some batter for two small heart pans.

best banana bread - with peanut butter chips

Old fashioned banana bread

Here’s what you need:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (note – my butter was frozen so I nuked mine in the microwave for about 45ish seconds until it was soft)
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten (note – I used 1/2 cup Egg Beaters)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3-4 bananas, smooshed
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup peanut butter chips (optional)

Here’s what you do:

  1. Cream together butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas. Combine with an electric mixer.
  3. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture.
  4. Spray loaf pan with Pam or other cooking spray. Pour banana batter into greased loaf pan.
  5. Optional – sprinkle peanut butter (or chocolate!) chips on top of uncooked loaf.
  6. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

AND, since it’s B’s birthday – I also made two small heart-shaped banana bread loafs. Happy Birthday B!

peanut butter banana bread hearts

Banana Crumb Muffins

/ Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

New year, new recipes? Ha! I wish. But it’s finally time to share one of my favorite recipes – banana crumb muffins! It’s a recipe that I seem to make quite often – and not just because B seems to let his bananas go bad often, but because they are SO easy and SO yummy! The next time you find yourself with 3 or 4 overripe banana, I suggest you try these out.

banana crumb muffins

Banana Crumb Muffins

Adapted from this recipe, makes 12 muffins

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the muffins:

  • 4 ripe bananas, smooshed, either by hand or food processor
  • 3/4 c granulated sugar
  • 1 egg (I used 1/4c eggbeaters)
  • 3/4 stick butter (3/4 stick is 6 tbs … you can use the 2 tbs in the stick remaining for the topping!)
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 c flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

For the crumb topping:

  • 2/3 c brown sugar
  • 3 tbs flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbs butter (the rest of the stick of butter from above)

Here’s what you’ll do:

  • Use a food processor to mash 4 bananas until smooshy (yes, smooshy, not soupy). Add melted butter, sugar, vanilla and egg to food processor. You could probably put the banana in a bowl and then add the other wet aforementioned ingredients, but why make another bowl dirty that you’ll just have to wash?
  • In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
  • Add banana-butter-sugar-vanilla-egg mixture to dry ingredients. Mix well until dry and wet ingredients are combined thoroughly.
  • Spoon batter into greased muffin tin, or tin prepared with muffin liners.
  • Make the topping! In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 3 tbs flour and cinnamon. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes – mine tend to be finished at exactly 19 minutes.

Enjoy! Try to keep yourself from eating before they get cool – I tell B this every time, but I still find him trying one before it’s fully cool and then the muffin sticks to the wrapper. It may be hard, but it’s worth the wait!