Whole Wheat Banana Oatmeal Muffins (Egg-free)

No matter how hard I try, I always end up with overripe bananas by the end of the week. Before you ask, yes, I have tried covering the ends with cling wrap, keeping bananas in a dark place, but nothing has worked well for me. I used to bake banana bread every week, just to use these up. In fact, Banana bread + coffee had become a Saturday morning ritual for us. But too much of anything is bound to become boring after a while. Banana bread started to look less appealing to the both of us. There came a point when neither of us could even stand the sight of speckled bananas. Gone was the Saturday breakfast ritual and all overripe bananas went straight to the trash can.
But this time I had half a dozen bananas, fully ripe and some even black. With all the Diwali prep, I had forgotten the ripening bananas in the fruit basket. I didn’t have the heart to throw away so many, so the banana bread was back again. Only this time, I decided to make it “healthier” by cutting out all the processed ingredients, and by making muffins instead of a loaf. It's very easy to overeat when you have a whole loaf in front of you. These muffins have,
No refined flour
No refined sugar
No butter
No eggs
High fiber
All these in a breakfast muffin! Dream come true, right? I’m so glad I finally came up with a recipe which won’t make me pack on the pounds. These muffins take 10 minutes prep time and taste best the next day. The texture and flavour develop over time. Make these the night before and wake up to a hearty, healthy, fibre rich breakfast!
INGREDIENTS
Makes 4 standard sized muffins
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Quick cooking Oats, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup Powdered Jaggery
2 Tbsp Water
1/2 cup Mashed overripe Bananas
(Use the ripest bananas you can find. Heavily speckled or black ones work best for this recipe.)
1/4 cup Walnuts / Chocolate chips (optional)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 deg celsius
In a bowl, sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt
Add all the remaining ingredients except oats and combine well
Stir in the oats
Scoop into a muffin tray lined with paper liners
Sprinkle Oats on top
Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean
