Oatmeal-Pecan-Banana Muffins

Good Morning everyone! I had a sleepless night last night and was able to catch up on some blogging. I cooked a lot last weekend and had recipes to type up and photos to download. I think I finally went to bed at 3 am. Anyway, I made these Oatmeal-Pecan-Banana Muffins last weekend and they were incredible. I found a banana muffin recipe on Pinterest and modified it a bit. I added Oatmeal to these muffins and I added applesauce to replace the oil in the recipe. I see so many recipes that substitute the oil with applesauce and I wanted to see if the texture would still be there without the oil. It was. The texture even improves the next day. The apples keep it super moist and you really don't miss the oil at all. Delicious.

I used my preserved bananas from last month and it was great. I pulled them from the freezer, thawed them in warm water and dumped them in the recipe. Since I had them pre-measured, it was a snap to make. Check out my 'How to' blog, When Banana's Go Bad, on how to preserve ripe bananas. Enjoy!

Oatmeal-Pecan Banana Muffins (Adapted from Home Cooking with Sonia)
(Makes ~50 mini-muffins)

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1 1/2 cup ripe bananas
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin pans with baking spray.

Combine flour, oatmeal, sugars, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, Mix and set aside.

In medium bowl combine bananas, buttermilk, applesauce, vanilla extract, and egg and mix thoroughly.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Note:Over mixing muffin batter will make them tough, so mix until just combined.  Add chopped pecans. Pour into mini muffin pans and top with brown sugar and additional pecans. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

If you use normal size muffin tins, use liners and bake for 18-20 minutes.