This muffin is a powerhouse of taste and nutrients! It is made with rolled oats, buckwheat flour, regular flour, well ripe bananas, and plenty of frozen berries. Enjoy its rich taste and antioxidant benefits!
About the Delicious Healthy Muffins
I woke up craving a warm and comforting muffin that is not overly sweet and can provide me with an energizing boost. Most store-bought muffins have too much sugar and additives which make me feel uneasy. Check the ingredients next time you buy one. The unhealthy muffins leave me feeling off-putting.
I always stock up on frozen berries to prepare my quick and easy breakfast muesli or smoothie all year round. While fresh mixed berries are great, they can be quite expensive, especially when they are out of season. It is worth noting that freezing does not diminish the quality of nutrition, and sometimes it can even be better than fresh produce that degrades in quality after a few days. If you want to learn more about it, you can read about it here.
What is flour substitute for making delicious-flavour healthy muffins?
I baked muffins using various flour combinations, such as rolled oat, buckwheat flour with and without white flour. White flour is cheap, addictive and lacks nutrients. It’s heavily processed and stripped of fiber, vitamin E, and other micronutrients. Refine white rice and white flour are stripped off bran and germ rich in fibre and vitamin E. Whole grains are a much healthier option for those who care about nutrition and health. If you want to learn a little bit about wholegrains, click here.
For this muffin recipe, I used three different types of flour including rolled oats, buckwheat flour, and a small amount of white flour.
Ingredients and Tips
The recipe card contains a detailed list of ingredients. I would like to share some important tips to help you make delicious muffins.
☑️Healthy Flour: While you can use just one type, I highly recommend using oats and buckwheat in addition to normal white flour. The former oats and buckwheat flour are incredibly nutritious and add unique textures and flavors to your muffins. Buckwheat flour adds a delicious nutty and earthy flavor, as well as a beautiful brown color to your muffins. Unlike other recipes that require oatmeal flour, no need to grind oat. Simply mix the oats with the wet ingredients, and they will become soft.
☑️Banana: Using a ripe banana in the muffin base add a naturally sweet flavor and fragrance, allowing for less sugar in the mix
☑️Vegetable Oil: Oil is a crucial ingredient when making muffins. It helps to keep them moist and soft even when they are not warm, unlike using melted butter. You can use a neutral-flavoured oil, but it is recommended to use good quality vegetable oil. I personally used extra-virgin oil in my muffin recipe, but it do not make a significant difference in taste. So, regardless of the type of oil you use, make sure it is of good quality.
☑️Cinnamon Powder: Adding cinnamon powder to banana muffins results in a delicious, naturally sweet flavor that everyone loves.
☑️Milk: Any type of milk, whether plant-based or non-plant based, can be used in this recipe. I used soy milk in this particular recipe. The consistency of the muffin mix dough can be adjusted by adding more or less milk as needed. Start with 1/4 cup of milk and gradually add more until you reach the desired consistency. It’s important to find the right consistency, which is not too dense or watery. Aim for a happy medium.
☑️Frozen Mixed Berries: Avoid defrosting frozen berries before adding them to muffin mix. Mix 1 cup of frozen berries into the muffin batter and place the remaining 1/4 cup on top of the muffins before baking. This makes the muffins aesthetically pleasing with visible mixed berries. Note that cooking time may be slightly longer due to the additional water content due to freezing.
☑️Melted Butter and Brown Sugar Mix: To add a delicious caramelized and glossy finish to your muffins, microwave some butter until it melts, and then mix it with brown sugar. Once your muffins are almost finished baking, brush the butter and sugar mixture on top of them. This will give them an extra touch of sweetness and a beautiful glossy look.
Adjustment for Special Dietary Requirements
☑️Vegan: For vegans, use plant-based milk instead of regular milk and remove the egg from the ingredients list. However, you should adjust the consistency of the dough mix as eggs can add moisture level. For a beautifully caramelized muffin top look, use a mixture of oil and brown sugar instead of butter for browning and caramelizing the muffin brush ingredients.
☑️Gluten-free: For a gluten-free option, you should remove white flour and replace it with more buckwheat or rolled oats. The consistency of the dough should be in between dense and runny.
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Ingredients
Muffin Mix Dry Ingredients
- Banana : 2 Medium size
- Oat: 1 cup
- Buckwheat flour: 1 cup
- white flour: 1/4 cup
- Sugar: 4 tbs (1/4cup)
- Cinnamon Powder: 1ts (teaspoon)
- Baking soda 1ts
- Salt: 1/2 ts
Muffin Mix Wet Ingredients
- Egg: 1
- Frozen berries (1 and 1/4 cup)
- Vegetable oil 1/4 cup
- Milk or Plant-based milk 1 cup and half
- Vanilla extract: 1ts
Muffin Top Caramelising Ingredients
- Brown sugar 1 tbs
- Melted butter 40g or so
Instructions
Step 1 - Preparing for the oven and the muffin pan
➊ Preheat the oven to 190 °C(375°F).
➋ Lightly grease a standard muffin pan or line the pan with muffin papers
Step 2 - Mixing ingredients
➌ In a large mixing bowl, smash well ripe banana with a fork or potato masher.
➍ Add dry ingredients (rolled oat, buckwheat flour, white flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon powder)
➎ Into the same bowl, add wet ingredients except for frozen berries. Mix enough to combine evenly. Overmixing makes gluten in the flour form. This will result in making the muffin dense.
➎ Add in 1 cup of frozen berries and combine quickly.
➏ Place 1/4 cup of berries on top of muffins so that they appear visibly.
Step 3 - Baking
➐ Scoop the mix into the prepared lined muffin pan.
➑ Bake for around 20- 25 mins until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 4 - Brushing the muffin Tops
➊ Place a little of butter (40 -50g) and brown sugar (around 1 tbs) in a small microwave oven-proof bowl. microwave it quickly until the butter and sugar have melted.
➋ Remove the muffin pan from the oven, and raise the oven temperature to 200°C while doing the next step.
➌ Brush the muffins with a mixture of melted butter and brown sugar.
➍Put the muffin pan in the oven and bake for 5 minutes until the tops are nicely caramelized.
Step 5 - Cooling and Store
➊ Remove the muffin pan from the oven.
➋ Transfer muffin to a rack to cool.
➌Store muffins in a fridge or in a freezer bag and freeze it for a longer storage up to a couple of months.
