Banana Oatmeal Muffins

We had another very ripe banana that needed to be consumed, so I decided to make banana oatmeal muffins, for the second time. The first time I attempted to make the muffins, I tried just adding mashed banana to my overnight oatmeal muffin recipe. However, the muffins turned out too soft and mushy. Sabrina and Naomi still happily ate the muffins, but I knew that the recipe needed some tweaking. This time around I changed the amount of sugar, flour, and oil that I used, and the muffins turned out much better. If you like nuts, I'm sure that 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans would be an excellent addition. I might try adding 1/2 cup of blueberries for some blueberry banana muffins next time.

Banana Oatmeal Muffins
makes 7 muffins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats. If making the muffins for Michael, use gluten-free oats.
  
• 1/2 cup almond milk (or Lactaid milk if making for Michael)
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/4 tsp. lemon juice
  
• 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 banana)
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten-free flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. and 1/8 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions:

The night before, heat the milk in the microwave until it is warm. Mix the milk and oats in a small bowl, cover with a plate or plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease 7 cups in a regular-size muffin tin with canola oil or Spectrum Organic shortening. In a medium-size bowl, whisk the egg. Mash the banana and add to the bowl. Then add the mixture of oats and milk, the brown sugar, lemon juice, and the oil. Stir until combined. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, sea salt, and cinnamon. Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring only enough to combine them and until you see no traces of flour.

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds full of batter. Bake the muffins for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean when inserted in the middle of one of the muffins.