Apple Banana Muffins
One of Kenya and Chloe’s favorite activities is going on long walks with their Mommy and Daddy in their Double City Mini Stroller (and I love this stroller as much as they do — it makes getting two kids around a snap). One of the bonuses of living in California is that the weather is nice enough to do it almost any day of the year. The kids love being outside and looking at dogs, birds, and trucks, and picking all kinds of fruits from the trees in our neighborhood (another California bonus!). Along our usual route our neighbors have branches overflowing with oranges, plums, kumquats and apples. Kenya loves bringing a bag along with him for the ride to collect his booty. Part of the adventure for us is not only picking the fruit, but also making something delicious with it when we get home. That’s where the inspiration for this recipe came from. Naturally sweet apples and bananas in a muffin that’s a great for breakfast or a snack and also the perfect treat when it’s time to head out in the stroller again for our next outing!
Apple Banana Muffins (Makes 24-28 Mini Muffins)
1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Cinnamon
3 Tbsp Vegetable or Canola Oil
1/2 Cup Agave OR Honey
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Milk
2 Bananas, mashed
1 Medium Apple, peeled and grated (Gala, Pink Lady, Fuji or Golden Delicious are good choices)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and mix.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining ingredients together.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
5. Grease a muffin tin or line it with muffin cups and fill each cup 3/4 full with the batter.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Serve.
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Just made these! So yummy they are almost all gone already:)
mt little lady can’t have dairy, what is a good sub for the milk?
You can use almond milk or rice milk
I just baked this and am in LOVE. I originally made them for my toddler, but I ended up eating half! haha!
If you don’t mind, I’ll be talking about this recipe in my blog post on Monday at http://somaybemomwasright.blogspot.com/.
Thanks for sharing!
Would whole wheat flour work?
I would do half whole wheat and half white flour, so it is nice and fluffy
Nicole-just substitute with soy, almond or rice milk. That’s what I always do for my little man!
Any chance there is another option to replace the honey or agave?
I didn’t test it without the honey or agave. You can try using sugar but I’m not sure for the exact measurements. But you can use maple syrup with the same measurements that the recipe gives for the honey. If you test it out let me know how they turn out!
Just made these! Yummy! The whole house smells like banana-apple baking! My 2 year old is loving them. Perfect recipe for the day. I had 2 bananas sitting on my counter that were over-ripe. I was planning to turn them into pancakes in the morning. This worked perfectly, instead! I got way more than 24 out of these. I used a 20 muffin, mini-muffin tin for my daughter and I still had enough batter left over for 6 (adult-sized) muffins for me and my husband!
P.S. – Baby #2 due in August. I know honey is a no-no before 1 year old. When baby #2 is old enough for finger foods, can he have the agave version of this? Is agave safe for under 1 year?
As for the sweetener question…I always use real maple syrup in my baking. I also cut the amount a bit as I find the fruit keeps these pretty sweet and delicious – great recipe we made them this morning – yummy!
Wonderful – will make today. I love your site! I’m also glad that pumpkin is back in the stores. I have been craving the pumpkin waffles and now we can have them – yippie!
I wonder if organic applesauce can be substituted for the grated apples? My grocery does not sell organic apples, but we have tons of apple sauce!
Thats such a bummer, do you have a local farmers market? I have no tried it with apple sauce but if you do , let me know how they work out!
I made them last night and used about a half cup of organic applesauce and the muffins turned out great! The bannana is the lead flavor, so I wonder if I had used a “real” apple if you would be able to taste the apple more? The applesauce does work, though!
Thank you!! These are SO good!! My kids loved and I all loved them!
Yum! Made these today and everyone loved them, they’re just as good as everyone says!
I used steel cut oats and they were awesome! The steel cut oats gave them lots of crunch. The recipe generously made 20 mini muffins and 6 full size muffins. My 12 month old couldn’t stop eating them (nor could my husband). Thanks!
any idea the calories on each one?
With Weelicious, we try to get people to focus on health and moderation in eating and since we’re primarily a kid’s website we try not to focus on calorie count. I know that there are programs that you can use to input the ingredients to find out the calorie count but I’ve never personally used them myself. If you like for me to look into any of these sites, I’d be happy to help you.
I use myfitnesspal.com. It’s a free calorie counting site. I enter the recipe and servings and it gives me the breakdown. For one mini muffin it’s 86 cal/2 g fat/0 Sat Fat/8 g sugar/2 g protein. The sugar is kind of high but it’s natural from the banana and apple. And it still doesn’t compare to the amount of sugar in grockery store bought muffins.
I don’t count the calories for my son, he’s 3 years old so I just offer him healthy choices and let hime eat until he decides he’s full. However, I do tend to also eat the food that I make for him from this website and by using the mfp website I can account for what I eat and control my portions. I have to say that everything I have made is much healthier than anything I can find in the grocery, and even if the calories are the same or similar…you get many more nutrients from your food making it as opposed to buying processed. Plus there’s no preservatives,chemicals, dyes, etc….Kuddo’s to Catherine for keeping our kids healthy (and us mama’s too!)
If you use 3tbsp of melted smart balance you cut 5 calories and 1 g of fat! Even better!!!
Thank you! I can’t believe how quickly you responded to my question. Ever since having my son and losing all the baby weight I’m trying to eat healthy for the both of us! That includes watching my calories.
( If you have sites that do this I would love to see!
BTW, I made these last night using applesauce instead of apples and he LOVED them this morning. He ate two muffins! I was shocked. Can’t wait to see if you come up with a carrot muffin.
)
Thanks again. Love the site!
Thank you! We have a carrot/pineapple muffin, have you seen it? http://weelicious.com/2009/12/09/carrot-pineapple-muffins/
Looks good! Will try since we haven’t tried too much pineapple yet. Yum!
I made 44 mini muffins w/ this recipe!
These are great!! Thanks AGAIN!
Really like the healthy way to prepare desert for my son. He ate 5! And I’m so happy that it’s actually a healthy treat! Thanks! I love this site!
I’m excite to try this – do I use a regular muffin pan or one of those with the tiny, 1.5″ muffins? The recipe said mini-muffins but the pic didn’t look so little.
These are so good! We used mini muffin tins for these, the picture is up close so it doesn’t look little. Let me know how they are! You can also use regular muffin tins as well.
Catherine-These are delicious! I doubled the recipe since I had extra banana’s and the guys at the police department love snacks! I made mine in a regular sized muffin pan and they are so tasty! Thank you for another winning recipe!
Hi. It is the third time I bake muffins with agave and it turns out a little salty. Do you think the agave I buy here at Spain could be lighter in flavor and sweetness? Thanks. Aline
that’s interesting. Maybe. Have you tried making it with honey instead?
I haven’t tried it with honey yet. Next time I’ll! Thanks.
I just made these muffins…sort of. I made the batter with just the bananas and used whole milk plain organic yogurt, whole wheat pastry flour, and honey – and used 2 eggs instead of one. When I put them in the mini muffin pan I added a few blueberries in the middle for a ‘surprise treat’. Yummy!
Sounds amazing!!!!!
I made these a couple days ago. I used honey instead of agave, but the rest of the recipe was exact. I used paper liners in the mini muffin tin as well. I baked for 20 min, like it says, but when I checked them, they were still gooey on the inside, so I left them in a little longer. When I took them out, they were still kinda gooey, but I left them to cool and they kinda set up a little better. Although the flavor is good, I found that they turned out kinda rubbery and tough. Maybe it was b/c of the honey? Idk but I might try making them again with agave. Regardless, my 1 year old daughter liked them
Hmm that’s interesting..I have made this recipe so many times and I haven’t had any problems. If you try them with agave, let me know how they turn out!
I just made these with honey (mini and regular size) and cannot get them to bake through. Just like Tonya (#22). They continue to be gooey no matter how long I bake them and how dark they get. Do you make them with honey yourself or just agave? I just added some extra flour so we’ll see if that helps. The dough is very thin and runny with all the milk, honey and vegetable oil. Is it suppose to be quite thin? I love your recipes and can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong with this one. I am a baker and make muffins regularly. Hmmmmm…..
Do you live at a higher altitude? (I live in LA) Also, did you add apple puree or grated apples?
I live in Minneapolis. I cut up very tiny bits of apple rather than grating it. I ended up adding another 1/2 cup of flour and the rest turned out great. Now I can’t wait to try the sweet potato muffins – yum! Thanks for your quick response!
Can you substitute for the vegetable oil/canola oil? I know some recipes you can substitute applesauce for oil, but this already has apples in it which might make the apple too overpowering?
Looks yummy!
You could substitute it for the same amount of melted butter. I think it would be a challenge to put the applesauce and as you said might be overpowering. If you give them a try, let me know what happens!
have you ever tried making this with butternut squash? Great twist on the recipe (which is fantastic also). You can switch out the cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice. Just steam and puree the squash…as fall approaches I know there will be plenty of squash to use up.
Love that idea!!
Are quick cooking oats ok to use? I’m not sure if there is a difference between them and old fashioned oats?
Yes that’s fine, they just won’t have as much of a bite than the old fashioned oats. But there is a difference between them since the quick cooking oats cook faster than the regular oats.
Do you think these will freeze well? I’m in a baking mood, so I’m going to make a few of your recipes today. This one, and http://weelicious.com/2009/12/09/carrot-pineapple-muffins/ and http://weelicious.com/2008/10/28/mini-pumpkin-pear-loaves/
and possibly this one: http://weelicious.com/2010/03/10/zucchini-muffins/
School starts tomorrow and I’m always in a hurry in the morning so I’m looking for some easy to defrost options.
Thanks
These should freeze wonderfully
These are a huge hit with my 2 year old son. I didn’t have any bananas, so I used 1/2c of organic apple sauce instead and he loved them.
[...] in the house, so I thought I’d offer him another variety I thought would be sure to please: Weelicious Apple Banana Muffins! I made some of the substitutions mentioned in the comments on the Weelicious site, including [...]
Thank you so much for this recipe! My little one just scarfed down 3 of them! He’s been a little picky lately, but your muffins are always a hit!
I just made these last night and they came out great! I subsituted 1/2 whole wheat flour and used rice milk instead. I also doubled the recipe because I had 4 bananas that needed to be used. My 17 month old loved them for breakfast this morning!
Hi Catherine,
I just discovered your site and I am so excited to try out your recipes. I have a 3 year old and 1 year old twins so I feel like I have to constantly come up with new, healthy, interesting things for them to eat.
Actually, I tried this muffin recipe last night and found them to be too sweet for me. If I try making them with half the amount of honey/agave, would I have to replace the rest with some liquid to keep them moist?
Thank you!
No you do not have to replace it, just add less honey or agave
Would it be okay to make the batter the night before & refrigerate it until morning? My kids are always ready to eat as soon as they get up but I don’t always want to make the muffins the night before.
Without testing it, I think it would be fine. You can always combine the wet ingredients together and the dry ingredients together and store separate in the fridge and just combine in the morning and bake
I just made these and they came out wonderful. The only change I made was using a mix of whole wheat and white flour, and using just slightly less honey. The only issue I’m having is that the muffins are sticking to the little baking cups and making them impossibe to get out in one piece. Any idea what may have caused this?
I just made these but forgot to add the vegetable oil. They were ready in 15 minutes, tasted pretty good though a bit chewy. I’d like to try them again with the vegetable oil but am wondering how that affects the recipe. Please let me know so I know what to expect. Thanks
Do I need to adjust the temperature or cooking time if I use conv. over?
OMG! These muffins are so fantastic…I absolutely love the ‘honey’ taste in them. They are not too sweet, super moist and full of flavor…love the added apple bits too. I added 1/3 cup ground flax. Really really amazing! My go-to muffin recipe from now on, THANK YOU!
these muffins taste great but are really dense. i’m not much of a baker. did i stir too much? anyway, my daughter and I ate them all in less than a week. great recipe!
If you over mix the batter, the batter will get more stiff. Always try not to over mix – that way they come out light and airy
So happy she enjoyed them!
If I used sugar instead of honey/agave, do I also then omit the baking soda?
You can use sugar instead of honey or agave but you need the baking soda in this recipe. The baking soda acts as a leavener , far different from sugar which is for flavor.
Thanks. I thought that the baking soda was just being used to counter the acidity in the honey.
Just made these. Yielded 36 mini and 2 mom sized muffins. They were delicious. My 14 month old gobbled down 3 of them! Thanks for such a wonderful recipe.
Made these again tonight for the second time, and they are AMAZING! Highly addictive, yikes, so yummy and moist. I just used honey in place of agave, otherwise I followed this recipe exactly and they come out perfect. Thanks again!!
Just made a batch using a single snack pack of natural apple sauce instead of grating up an apple and they came out great. If you have jar apple sauce it would probably be about 1/2cup of apple sauce.
Crazy question… I can’t find my baking soda (don’t ask, we’re moving), do you think I can still make the recipe with more baking powder? Or will they not rise properly?
Skipped the milk all together and they came out great!
Just made these for my daughter’s first day of preschool tomorrow – they are soooo good and smell amazing too! I’m sure my daughter and 16mo old son will love them! Thanks – loving your recipes these days – made your choc-chip granola bars last week and will never buy store bought again!
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Just made this, yummy but a little chewey, I think because of the honey. Made a second batch, omitted the apples and used Nutella instead of the honey. Also real yummy and not chewey. yum yum.
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Make these all the time b/c they are my 2-year-old’s favorite! This time I doubled the batch and in place of 2 of the bananas I added a grated mango. So delicious! Thank you so much, Catherine, for giving us these wonderful recipes that we can use as a framework for our own creations. You make me feel like I am a cooking genius and I am so grateful!
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Just made these and they made 48 mini muffins for me. Gave some to the kids and they weren’t that impressed. I used steel cut oats as I don’t like regular oatmeal and because the oats were crunchy the muffins weren’t as much of a hit as I thought they would be. I guess I’ll be eating them myself so it’s a good thing I can freeze them. Next time I’ll skip the oats and add more diced apples. Overall, pretty good recipe though.
This is my favorite muffin recipe from your site (so far). Very moist, sweet muffins. My son LOVES them! THANKS!
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I’m going to make these tomorrow… does anyone know if I can substitute while whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour?
Yes, White Whole Wheat flour is a fantastic substitute for All Purpose!
I made these this morning and they were really delicious…thanks for the great recipe! I used WG Spelt flour, butter instead of oil, muscovado sugar instead of honey and instead of 1tsp of cinamon i did 1/2 cinnamon and 1/2 cardamom.
[...] made the Apple Banana Muffins and they are both tasty and [...]