I've made these muffins on two occasions and both times they've turned out delicious. I don't like bananas very much, but I LOVE banana bread. I was hoping to make a healthy alternative to the bread and found this recipe at the website for Quaker Oats.
The recipe is very easy to follow and they bake quickly. Also, I've found that they keep very well and I can imagine that they would freeze well for long-term storage as well.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
5 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
1/2 cup fat-free milk
2 egg whites or 1 egg, lightly beaten
Each time I've made them I've left out the nuts as I don't like them very much. Also, I've used margarine (the trans fat free kind) and egg whites.
To bake them:
Heat oven to 400°F.
Line twelve medium muffin cups with paper baking cups or spray bottoms only with cooking spray.
In large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, nuts, if desired, baking powder and baking soda; mix well.
In medium bowl, combine bananas, margarine, milk and egg whites; blend well. Add to dry Ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix.)
Fill muffin cups almost full. Bake 17 to 19 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool muffins in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Serve warm.
I'm a huge fan of bananas with peanut butter. I experimented a bit one with with adding peanut butter to some extra batter that I had. They were also yummy, but I'd need to experiment some more to determine the optimal quantity of peanut butter to use.
I used nutritiondata.com to determine the nutritional information per serving (using margarine, and egg whites and without nuts). Each muffin has 175 calories, 5g fat, 2g saturated fat, 1mg cholesterol, 108mg sodium, 31g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 5% Vit A, 3% Vit C, 8% Calcium, and 8% iron. Each muffin is also a good source of other vitams such as B-12, potassium, and B-6, phosphorus, and thiamin.
The link to the original recipe at Quaker Oats' website is HERE
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Quaker Oat Whole Grain Banana Muffins
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Raspberry steel-cut oatmeal
Steel-cut oatmeal is one of my favorite weekend breakfasts - it's much creamier than "instant" oatmeal, it's warm and filling, and though it does take a while to prepare, it's simpler than pancakes or French Toast. This week we decided to add a new spin to it - raspberry sauce. Inspired partially by a brunch we had last weekend at La Note, and partially by the 6oz containers of raspberries that were $0.98 apiece, we made a simple raspberry sauce and added it to this morning's oatmeal. The rest went on top of some chocolate cake.
If you don't have the time or inclination to make your own raspberry sauce, you could probably stir in some raspberry jam, or just mash up some fresh raspberries and stir them in with brown sugar or honey.
Raspberry sauce
12 oz. raspberries, frozen and thawed (this is apparently necessary to break down the membranes on the berries, according to Rose Levy Beranbaum)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/3 c. sugar
Puree raspberries and lemon juice together in a blender. Heat the mixture in a saucepan over medium heat and boil until reduced by over half (at this point, if you want to strain the seeds out, use a strainer or a food mill to do so). Stir in the sugar and continue heating until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature before storing in the refrigerator.
Steel-cut Oatmeal
1 Tbsp. butter
1 c. steel cut oats (you can find these at any grocery store)
3 c. boiling water
1/4 c. half and half
3/4 c. milk
Start boiling your water in a kettle or in the microwave. Meanwhile, melt butter over medium-high heat in a large saucepan. Add oats and stir to coat with butter, and "toast" 2 minutes in the saucepan. Add the boiling water and reduce heat to low; let simmer 25 minutes with NO STIRRING.
Combine milk and cream (in the same measuring cup is fine). Stir gently into oatmeal to combine, cook another 10 minutes. Stir in about 1/4 c. raspberry sauce (or to taste) and 1-2 Tbsp of honey or brown sugar to sweeten.
Steel-cut oats are also fantastic prepared with little brown sugar (a few Tbsp.) and cinnamon, nutmeg and/or allspice. We usually have it with spices, honey and sliced bananas, but the tart raspberries were a nice temporary change of pace.
