By Mackenzie Pittman

Perfect and simple recipe if you’re looking for a sweet, but not too sweet treat. Banana bread is a classic comfort food everyone loves, and in muffin form, even more appealing. Not only are these muffins naturally sweetened with honey or maple syrup, they can easily be tweaked to suit anyone on a vegan or dairy free diet!

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 20-25 minutes

Makes 12 muffins

*recipe notes at bottom

Ingredients

• ¼ cup coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil*
• ½ cup honey or pure maple syrup*
• 2 eggs or flax egg substitute*
• 2 large ripe bananas
• ¼ milk of preference or water
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (NOT baking powder)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 ¾ cups of white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour or all purpose flour
• Optional: ½ cup of mixins such as raisins or other dried fruits, chopped walnuts or pecans, chocolate chips, fresh banana slices…

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit, and line a muffin tin
• In a large bowl, beat the oil and honey together with a whisk or large fork. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the mashed bananas and milk and beat again.
• Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon and whisk together. Switch to a large spoon and stir in the flour, just until combined. If adding in mix ins, gently fold them in now
• Scoop batter into the muffin tin using an ice cream scoop (should make 12 muffins)
• Optional: sprinkle tops of muffins lightly with cinnamon
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean
• Let the muffins cool for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling
• Enjoy!

**Notes**

• To make vegan, use maple syrup instead of honey, substitute liquid with water or non-dairy milk, and replace eggs with 2 flax eggs
  • To make one flax egg: Add one tablespoon of ground flaxseed to 2 ½ tablespoons of water and let sit for 5 minutes. Replace in recipe for egg.
• If using coconut oil, make sure it is melted and not in a solid state when being mixed with the other ingredients.