Oatmeal Banana Muffins with Cranberries -

Oh my goodness, you guys! I have been meaning to write this post for a few weeks now. Since January at least…and now it will be March in 2 days! Life has been so busy lately and I feel like I have zero downtime. I guess that’s being a working mom for you. Especially when you are a mom to a very cute but very stubborn baby who seems to be able to run on little to no sleep!

On the day that I actually made these muffins, Easton was miraculously napping and I decided I wanted to bake something. When I started my blog a few years back, I did so as a way to keep track of my baking recipes, so I will actually use it as my own online cookbook. From time to time I will decide that I want to make a recipe that I’ve blogged about in the past, so I just go back and find it on my blog. As I was browsing, I came across these banana oat muffins (Please don’t judge me for my lack of food photography skills back in the day!!!) I had some ripe bananas around, it was a quick and easy recipe, plus I thought it would be fun to revamp it a bit.

Next, I noticed that I had some whole cranberries left over from a while back (those things take forever to go bad in the fridge!!) so I thought it could be fun to add those to the recipe in addition to making some healthier substitutions. If you like fresh cranberries, not just dried cranberries with a boat load of sugar, aka Craisins, you will love these! They add just the right amount of zing. I really did love the way this muffin recipe came out. Filling, healthy and unique! Maybe the next time Easton decides to take a nice nap I’ll reinvent another old recipe with another embarrassing example of my poor food photography from my early days of blogging!

Ingredients:

1 egg

3-4 mashed ripe bananas

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup natural applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup white whole wheat flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup whole, fresh cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Next, line or grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and add in egg and brown sugar. then combine.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
5. Add in the oatmeal to the flour mix.
6. Add the dry mix into the large bowl, a little at a time. mixing well after each addition.
7. Fold in the cranberries.
8. Divide batter evenly into each muffin cup.
9. Bake for about 25 minutes, then let cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!