Recipe Revamp: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Banana Oat Muffins

As many of you know, Hannah has a food sensitivity to gluten.  Sadly for her, that meant for awhile that she didn't get to enjoy baked goods.  As I've grown more comfortable experimenting in the kitchen, I've been able to find recipes or adapt them so that they are gluten free.  I'm so happy, because a life without muffins is just not quite complete.  I love baked goods. Tell me I'm not alone there!

Before Hannah's gluten issues, this Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffin recipe was one of our favorites.  Way back when this Zucchini Apple Carrot Bread/Muffin recipe was posted, I attempted to make them with all oat flour.  It worked!  Since then I've tried the all-oat-flour method with a few other recipes as well, with mixed results.  This Chocolate Banana one was the latest, and I think it was amazing! Definitely my new favorite.  But I digress...

For now, here's the Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Muffin recipe revamp, using all oat flour.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups oat flour, made by grinding oats in a blender
• 1-1/4 cups unground oats*
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil or applesauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 bananas, broken into small pieces or mashed
• 6 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 cup milk

*Grinding 1 cup of oats yields slightly less than 1 cup of oat flour.  To make up for that, and to help hold everything together, I add an additional 3-4 Tbsp. of unground oats for each cup of oat flour. The original recipe calls for 1 cup of oats, so I added an additional 1/4 cup in this case.  

Directions:

Add all ingredients to mixer.  If you are opposed to banana chunks and want the bananas to disappear into the batter, mash those up first.  Otherwise, mixing them with the rest of the batter is fine. 

 Mix on medium until all ingredients are combined and bananas are mostly mashed.

Scoop into greased muffin pan.  Since these don't have the gluten to help them rise, fill them nearly to the top.  They won't expand too much.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  You may need an additional 2-5 minutes depending on your oven.  Mine heats a bit hot for the temperature it says, but my previous oven was a bit cooler.

Cool completely before removing from baking pan. This is the other key thing I've found when making all-oat muffins.  If you try to take them out while they're warm, they get really crumbly.  Once they cool off, it's a lot better.

For ease of recipe making, here's the recipe again:

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups oat flour, made by grinding oats in a blender
• 1-1/4 cups unground oats
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil or applesauce
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-3 bananas, broken into small pieces or mashed
• 6 Tbsp. peanut butter
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

Add all ingredients to mixer, mashing bananas ahead of time if you prefer.   Mix on medium until all ingredients are combined and bananas are mostly mashed. Scoop into greased muffin pan, filling nearly to the top. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.  You may need an additional 2-5 minutes depending on your oven.  Cool completely before removing from baking pan.

This recipe makes 12-16 muffins, depending on the size of your pan.  I usually get 15 in mine.  I also usually double the recipe, because my family is to the point that we can finish off 12 muffins in one breakfast.  These freeze well and are great for snacks also!