Ever So Often You Stumble Upon THAT recipe ...

Parents ... you know. THAT recipe that your kids eat with glee and not complaint. It's not often, but it DOES happen and when it turns out to be easy and healthy I'm over the moon happy! One of my friends that I met last year on my Precision Nutrition Coaching journey introduced me to this blog, chocolatecovderedkatie. I discovered this recipe on her blog and made a few modifications. I also doubled it because a single batch is gone in one day in my house.

Think banana bread meets muffins. That's what you have here, but with the added protein power from beans and awesome healthy carbs from oats. These muffins are gooey in the middle (even more so when warm), and just freaking delightful. These muffins are supposed to be fudgy (think undercooked), not fluffy and floury like traditional muffins. Not everyone will be a fan of the texture, but I consider these a winner namely because they have passed the KID TEST in my house! My kids have gone through 3 batches in 8 days! When I first shared these with my kids I didn't tell them about the beans. I just casually said they were peanut butter/banana/chocolate chip muffins. My youngest gleefully told my husband she knew what the "secret ingredient was." He held his breath and she said "peanut butter!" Secret safe!

Well, it was safe until I paused to take photos for this post. Then she saw the beans... and she said "Wait?! What are you making?" I said "the muffins?!" ... cue the HUGE pause. As she processed this I held my breath just a wee bit ... and then quickly began to recite the awesomeness of beans (added awesome protein & fiber --- what EVERY 12 year old wants to know). To my delight she did not protest.

Just the other day my 14 year old offered these to two of his friends. He told them about the secret ingredient (the real secret ingredient) ... and they were game to try them anyway. 1/2 way through their first muffin they both declared them some of the most delicious muffins they've ever had. WIN!

Flourless Banana Chocolate Chip Blender Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup oats
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 ripe to over-ripe bananas
2 cans white beans rinsed well (and drained) or 250g cooked beans
- I use great northern beans or cannelloni beans
1/2 cup peanut butter or nut butter of your choice
1/2 cup pure maple syrup or honey
4 tsp pure vanilla extract
optional ingredients to stir in: handful mini chocolate chips, crushed nuts of your choice, shredded coconut

Total Time: 20m Yield: 16 muffins

Below you see all the ingredients dumped into my blender (minus the chocolate chips which I stir in by hand).

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line the muffin cups. Drain the beans and rinse extremely well, then pat dry. This is important because it gets rid of any bean taste. Blend all ingredients until smooth in a blender or high-quality food processor. (If using a blender without a tamper, stop occasionally to stir ingredients with a spoon so they will blend evenly.) Pour into the muffin cups – don’t overfill or they will rise and then sink in the centers. Bake 20 minutes. They will look underdone – let sit 20 minutes and they will firm up.

Below you'll see I added mini-chocolate chips (really upping the kid fan factor here!) and on the right - the muffins (I used tall liners from Ikea so they look deceptively small).