Video Recipe: Better-for-you Banana Bread Muffins

Oncology dietitian Elise B. Cushman, RD, whips up this bakery favorite with a nutritional twist.

I start by mixing my dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. The only thing that I am persnickety about sifting is baking soda. Baking soda likes to clump. There is nothing more unpleasant than biting into a baked treat with a hunk of baking soda in it. Sifting breaks up those clumps. Also worth noting is that if you use almond flour at home, because it's a nut and it's got a high fat level, it also has a short lifespan in your cupboards. Freezing increases the shelf life, but it also makes it clump a little bit, so you might have to break those apart. Tiny lumps will soften as the muffins bake.

Then I blend my wet ingredients in a separate bowl, including the ripe bananas. One of my favorite kitchen tools is a hand-held blender. If you don’t have one, you can make it all in a blender and then just pour the batter into the muffin molds.

I have a hack for bananas. Whenever my bananas get brown or get freckly and my kids won't eat them, I peel them, break them in half, put them in a gallon freezer bag, and store them in the freezer. I use them for banana bread muffins, banana oatmeal, smoothies, you name it. I have brown bananas all throughout the year.

The reason these are better-for-you banana muffins is because they're lighter on sweetness and they deliver an extra punch of protein from the cottage cheese. You can also substitute low-fat Greek yogurt in place of the cottage cheese, or do half cottage cheese and half low-fat Greek yogurt.

Blending the wet ingredients also helps smooth the curds of the cottage cheese. If you have anyone at home who doesn't like cottage cheese—or thinks they don't like cottage cheese—it's all blended, and any tiny leftover curds will dissolve as the muffins bake. They're never going to know it's in there. It's neutral in flavor, so they won't taste anything different.

Then I fold the blended wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. If you don't have the energy to do this, go ahead and throw it all in a blender.

I use one of my other favorite kitchen tools, a scooper, to scoop the batter into prepared muffin tins. I like to use silicone muffin liners because they're dishwasher safe, but you can spray a prepared pan or use olive oil to brush it if you prefer.

This recipe makes about 16-20 muffins, and it doubles easily. If you prefer banana loaves, the batter generously fills a 9x5 loaf pan, but it will take a lot longer to bake. This also does really well as mini muffins if you have a mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven temperature, and you’re done! I like to enjoy these muffins with a little bit of yogurt, and a high-protein hot cocoa.

Better-for-you Banana Bread Muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of cottage cheese
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup (add more if you like the sweetness of it)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3-1/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup flax meal
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3 ripe bananas

Instructions

• Mix dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
• Blend together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
• Fold blended wet ingredients into dry ingredients until the batter is smooth.
• Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Yield: 16-20 muffins.

See Elise’s other recipes, including high-protein hot cocoa, key lime yogurt bark and easy no-bake mug cakes, as well as tips, advice and three recipes perfect for early winter cooking.