Good morning!  It’s Friday, you guys!  As I hobble across the finish line this week, I take comfort in the fact that I really can go to bed at 8:01 tonight as soon as I put my children in bed.  And, also, that we have some really tasty homemade muffins to snack on.

We make these almost every week.  I’ve tweaked the recipe to the point where we have added protein and omega-3’s and a sugar substitute I feel comfortable with. We either have them with breakfast OR I pack them in the kids lunches.

Right now, we are not eating conventional wheat or corn.  We are mostly gluten-free – however I do use Einkorn flour in this recipe.  We like using Einkorn to bake because it has a good amount of protein and fiber, B vitamins (including vitamin B-17), and less gluten (different genetic structure) that is easier to digest and doesn’t seem to cause the same kinds of GI issues as modern wheat.  I plan to write about Einkorn wheat soon, but HERE is what Dr. Axe has to say about it.  If you want to go completely gluten-free on this recipe, you can use gluten-free oat flour and the muffins taste just as good.

Disclaimer:  it’s taken me quite a while to build and maintain our natural and organic pantry, so if you don’t have some of these ingredients, don’t sweat it!  Maybe just swap out one ingredient for the healthier alternative.  You can totally use white sugar, AP flour, regular butter, etc if that’s what you have on hand.  This is just our version.

The kids helped me today, as they always do.  So, start by adding all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, blend cream cheese, butter, and coconut sugar together.  Then add eggs, vanilla, smashed banana, and ground flaxseed.

Then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a little at a time.  Mix until fully incorporated.  Then drop into lined muffin tins.  Let kids lick beaters.

Bake at 350º until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool and ENJOY!!!!

I hope you guys like these as much as we do, let me know how they turn out!  This recipe makes 24 muffins give or take.  Today I ended up with 26.  I have no idea why.

Our (VERY) Favorite Banana Muffins

• 1 (8 oz) cream cheese – softened
• 1/2 cup melted butter (or coconut oil)
• 1 cup coconut sugar (you can use Swerve to make it low sugar!)
• 3 over-ripe bananas, smashed
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp ground flax seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water (optional)
• 1 cup organic quick oats (we like Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 3/4 cup Einkorn or Spelt flour (or sub oat flour)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 2 scoops or more of your favorite vanilla protein powder (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350º.  Combine all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.  In a separate, large bowl combine cream cheese, butter, and coconut sugar until smooth with a hand mixer.  Add eggs, smashed bananas, vanilla, ground flax seeds.  Add dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated.

Scoop into lined muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  Makes approx. 24 muffins.

Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from another recipe.  Original recipe can be found HERE.

Shannon