Mini Apple Banana (Fruit) Bran Muffins

Don't these just look delicious!

all done

If you make just one recipe from my blog, let this be the one. These are amazingly good.

I spent a small portion of my morning baking these tiny sweet treats for my little guy. I popped a few (ok 4 in a row) into my mouth of course as well! They are somewhat healthy and super duper yummy. Organic too. And not too difficult to make.

Here are the ingredients. After photographing this menagerie, I did find some frozen bananas waaaaaay in the back of my freezer (saved for another recipe which I'll share another time).

ingredients

yummy berries

organic sugar, pears

organic eggs

Lets start with the dry ingredients:

dry ingredients

Then the wet ingredients (I think this recipe called for packed brown sugar, but I used dry brown sugar and they turned out just great!):

wet ingredients

wet ingredients

Mix all ingredients together:

mix together

batter, sans berries

Then I decided to add berries. Blueberries and Raspberries.

yum, berries

Cascadian Farms, frozen organic berries

I buy my berries in the winter frozen, on sale always! My only disappointment in this particular bag of raspberries is that they crumbled, but that was fine with me because they were just going to be mixed up into the batter. I had enough whole ones to create that "pop" of flavor when biting into the muffin, and that was good.

Then my little Peanut helped me fill the muffin pan with cup cake liners. It brought back sweet memories of my own mother and me in the kitchen together. She always let me put the cup cake liners in the pans.

helper in the kitchen

mothers little helper

cups

I just can't get enough of this little guy. Look at this....

little hands

cups

And he made sure I put enough batter into each cup. I topped each cup with a slice of frozen banana.

cups filled

detail

Baked away, and voila!!!!

all done

For my second round, I peeled and cubed the pear. I've used apples in the past for a similar recipe and that was yummy too. But I had to use up these pears, and oh my... so glad I did! The pears add a very nice moistness to the muffin.

adding pears


Sadly, my frozen banana was all mushy by the time I got to the second round, so I just squished the banana "slices" into the batter. They were fine. Still yummy, but they didn't have the cute little topping. No biggie. You'll want to use a fresh banana if you do this, so you wont have this problem.

with pears

Don't these just look so incredible? I'm in love. I might have to make more tomorrow. Just for me. Big ones. Big big BIG ones I think!

all done -close up

The recipe comes from this book:  The Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler. This is one of my most loved and cherished books I bought when I started feeding Oliver solids back when he was 7 months old.

the book: the petit appetit cookbook

The book is really wonderful and I highly recommend you get it if you have a baby or a toddler at home. Really, anyone could eat any of these recipes. I've made a few just for myself. Thanks to this book (and a few others), I did not have to feed Oliver any pre-packaged baby food back in the puree days.  

In the beginning, the author talks about important information to consider when choosing organics and recommends what to avoid, and the recipes include nutritional information. The later sections are divided up into age breaks, and each section has ideas and recipes on what to feed and tips on how to prepare the food better. Peanut has eaten every recipe that I have made from this book. And nothing was too difficult to prepare. Of all the books I have purchased on cooking for baby, this one is really one of the best! 



the recipe and nutrition facts

I have a few other cooking companions I can recommend, but my most favorite book is MIA. Once I detect its location, I'll definitely share that with you as well. So here's the recipe...

Mini Banana Apple Bran Muffins (with fruit!)

If you add fruit, the muffin count will increase to 48. If you do not add pears and berries, the yield will be 24 mini muffins.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup organic oat bran
  • 1 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter *
  • 3/4 cup organic applesauce
  • 3 medium organic bananas 1 mashed and 2 sliced *
  • 1/2 cup packed organic sugar *
  • 2 cage-free, organic eggs
  • 1/2 cup organic blueberries, frozen or fresh *
  • 1/2 cup organic raspberries, frozen or fresh *
  • 1 organic pear, peeled and cubed * (organic apple is OK too!)
* Note: I used salted butter; 1 mashed frozen banana and 1 banana sliced, using half slices; dry sugar; I added the berries on my own — the original recipe did not call for berries; I added the pears to the second set of muffins.

METHOD
  • Preheat over to 375. Place muffin cups into pan.
  • Combine all dry ingredients: flour, bran, baking soda, salt in a small mixing bowl
  • Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave for 25 seconds on high.
  • In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients: melted butter, applesauce, mashed banana, sugar and eggs. Mix together well.
  • Add flour mixture to the applesauce mixture and stir until just blended. Batter will be lumpy, somewhat thick and very moist.
  • Gently fold in berries and/or pear .
  • Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full. Place banana slice on top of each muffin.
  • Bake for 12 minutes or until set.
  • Cool muffins on a wire rack.
TIPS
  • Because these muffins are so moist with the mashed banana and applesauce, the wooden pick test is difficult. The center may not come out clean if you hit a mashed banana. If you're not sure if they are done, you can always pop one out and take a taste!
  • You can make these regular full-size muffins, but just remember to increase baking time to 15 - 18 minutes.
  • Be sure you have already introduced wheat and eggs before giving these muffins to baby
And then I wanted to share with you one other treat. I just tried these this past week. OMG. That's all I can say.

alexia biscuits

I'd show you a photograph of one, but sadly, there are none left. I think there are about 8 to a bag. Unfortunately, every last one and every last bite is gone. (If you like them gooey, you can bake them in the microwave. Wow.)

This company, Alexia, makes organic french fries as well. I don't have a photo to show you right now, but trust me, my freezer is always stocked with their french fries. The best part is, not only are they organic, but they are to be baked as well, not deep fried. Therefore, we just pop them in the oven while making dinner and in 15 - 20 minutes, you have very very healthy french fries. It beats the drive thru. They make a variety of flavors, even sweet potato fries (not organic tho). Oliver just loves them and I don't have to worry about all the grease and fat.


Comments

  1. Andrea, these look amazing. I defintely will try them. And I like the looks of the cookbook you reccomended. I could see it included carb counts which is what we hone in on around here.

    Maija and I are making lavendar cookies with rose water frosting (from the Spice Shop) tomorrow... I'll let you know how they turn out!
    Kari

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kari, please let me know how those lavender cookies turn out! I have rose water on hand! :) Love to see the recipe!

    andrea

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Your comments are helpful! Thanks!