Sweet Baked Life

Go bananas for breakfast! Get ready to make your morning a little sweeter by whipping up a batch of these soft and satisfying Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Are your mornings crazy like mine?

It seems no matter what time I wake up, I always seem to be rushing around just about the time I need to leave. And that I don’t like. I like to wake up early enough so that I don’t have to do the rush thing, but for some reason it is inevitable. At the last moments before I jet out the door, I seem to be frantically packing my kid’s lunch, making sure my hubby knows the schedule for the day, remembering to unplug my cell phone from the charger; and the list goes on!

And sometimes my stress raises and my morning time shortens when I am the one to take my son to school. With the 50,000 times I have to tell him to get up and the 50,000 more times I have to nudge him to get dressed. At this point I’ve gone bananas myself! I thought as they got older, it got easier. Not!

Anyway…I really am an organized person. And sometimes I do the morning prep the night before. But sometimes I am just too tired and then my mornings become crazy. The only good thing is being able to unwind during my drive to work, which takes about 30 minutes. OK, yes, this seems like a strange comment. But even though there are insane drivers on the roadways and highways, I really don’t let those people get to me, especially in the morning. I really like to have a clear head when I step into my office and am ready to take on the day! And it’s made that much better if I have a good breakfast to eat.

Well now we all can rest a bit easier and make sure that you and your family have a yummy to-go breakfast or wonderful mid-afternoon snack. These muffins are definitely the way to go. I love grabbing a few to take with me to work; they are a tasty and healthy alternative to the vending machine!!

You see, I always buy bananas with the intention of eating them in their natural state. But for some reason, at the end of the week I always end up with uneaten, ripe bananas. The other morning I woke up and thought, “What can I do with these bananas?” Ah, yes, I could make some classically delicious banana bread. Then after one millisecond, I changed my mind and Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins were born.

This was a no-brainer — as well as the bananas, I also had some left over mini chocolate chips and thought this would be the perfect combination; soft, creamy bananas surrounded by bittersweet chocolate morsels in a light and fluffy base with a hint of a nutty flavor from some oats. Just the thought of these sweet gems makes my taste buds tingle!

Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe bananas
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Turn your oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Note, this recipe made 18 muffins and you can easily double the recipe.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Whisk together until combined and set aside. Then in a small bowl mash bananas — I like to use a potato masher here. Set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric stand mixer with the paddle attachment add the butter and sugar. Mix on medium-high speed until creamed. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until well blended then mix in the vanilla. With your mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture until just combined. Remove bowl from stand and add the mashed bananas. Stir until just combined. Then fold in the oats and chocolate chips.

Evenly spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tins. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I hope your mornings are a little less stressed and more sweet with the addition of these Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Have a great day!