Carrot Oat Banana Chunk Muffins - #MuffinMonday

Have you seen the Muffin Man
The Muffin Man, the Muffin Man?
Have you seen the Muffin Man 
Who lives on Drury Lane?


That song has been stuck in my head since Stacy invited us to join her for Muffin Monday. Stacy has been baking muffins weekly for the last THREE years. I may or may not have gone through 150 of her Muffin Monday posts. (Definitely went through them and you should too.) I love muffins! For some odd reason, I dislike baking cupcakes but love baking muffins. I'd try to explain it but it's one of those "Kelly things" that gets me the "nod and smile" from friends while they pat me on the head and quickly change the subject. While I love muffins, I don't bake them very often. I usually bake them for my favourite toddler but I don't see him often enough. This affects both my muffin baking and overall happiness. But with Muffin Mondays happening the last Monday of every month, my cupcake pans will be seeing more action.

I'm starting off Muffin Mondays with a pretty simple muffin - oats + carrots + diced bananas. Bananas are always a go-to muffin ingredient for me but I didn't want the bananas all through the muffin. I thought I'd try something different and dice them. I liked having little banana surprises in my muffin and may have eaten 6 muffins just so I could "hunt for them". (Definitely ate 6 muffins yesterday.) I first baked the oats + carrot version of this for my little toddler friend some months ago. They were a bit bland to me. Maybe it's because I used a different sugar from the original recipe. Or maybe it needed the dried fruit that I skipped. Who knows. But I knew that this time I needed to double the sugar. Great decision. They are far from sweet - definitely not cupcake territory. Next time I will also increase the spices.  Some ginger would have been wonderful.

There are more muffins for you below the recipe. Be sure to visit them all!

Carrot Oat Banana Chunk Muffins

Recipe by: Kelly   Adapted from: Brown Eggs and Jam Jars

Yield: 12 small muffins

Ingredients 1 cup old fashioned oats 1 cup milk  1 teaspoon vinegar 1 egg, room temperature 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon  1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg 3/4 cup grated carrots 1/2 cup diced bananas

Directions Pour the oats, milk, and vinegar into a large bowl. Let sit at room temperature for an hour. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tin or line a 12-cup muffin pan Whisk the egg, oil and sugar into the oat mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Carefully fold the dry mixture into the wet ingredients. Then gently fold in the carrots and banana pieces. Don't over mix! Divide batter equally among the 12 muffin wells. Bake for ~ 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes Be gentle! Don't over-mix. If you've watched Good Eats, I'm sure you have heard Alton Brown shout "Walk away!". Just give the batter no more than 10 gentle stirs and walk away. Don't let the lumps bother you. "Walk away!"

• Apricot, Almond, and Toasted Coconut Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Caramel Apple Buttermilk Muffins from Making Miracles
• Carrot Oat Banana Chunk Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Ground Cherry Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pesto Pine Nut Parmesan Muffins from Food Lust People Love from
• Sour Cream Peach Muffins with Pecan Streusel from The Spiced Life

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page