Low Fat Banana Muffins

Over-ripe bananas? Not sure what to do? Here is a low-fat banana muffin recipe that puts those brown bananas to good use. I grew up eating traditional banana bread which was extra delicious because we’d eat it sliced, toasted and buttered, what could be bad? But, now that I’m a bit more calorie conscious I’d rather eat low-fat banana bread and devour high-calorie chocolate with slightly less guilt.

I experimented on my own substituting applesauce in my banana bread recipe and the result was a gummy mess. So I went on a search for recipes using yogurt or some other substitute and found one using buttermilk. (See below for how to make your own buttermilk!) This low-fat recipe calls for 1 tbls. oil and 1/3 buttermilk compared to my old version which used ½ cup butter and 1 tbls. milk – while I’m no chemist, I know that is significantly lower in fat! Unfortunately after finding the recipe online, I copied it into my cookbook and can’t seem to find it again… my apologies to the original chef for lack of credit for this recipe.

Happy Baking!


Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1/3 cup buttermilk*
• 1 tbls. vegetable oil
• 1 tbls. vanilla
• 1 ¾ cups flour (I use 1 ½ cups of all purpose flour and ¼ cup of whole wheat)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Makes about 12 muffins



Directions
Beat eggs and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add bananas, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Pour into greased or lined muffin pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

* If you don’t want to buy a whole container of buttermilk you can make your own very easily with milk and vinegar. Add 1 tbls of vinegar into a measuring cup and then fill with enough milk to reach 1 cup (or in this case 1 tsp of vinegar for 1/3 cup of milk). Let it stand for about 5 minutes before using. Voila – buttermilk!