For those of you that are iffy about vegan recipes I urge you to try this one! The only “vegan” part is the swap of chicken eggs to flax eggs. To persuade you even further I gave a muffin to my boyfriend, Joe, and he said they were delicious. I then said “They’re vegan” and he jokingly made a face of disgust but finished the whole muffins in 3 seconds. So there is your proof that it may be vegan but they taste amazing.
Banana bread is the most searched for bread on the internet; mainly because it’s not only delicious but I know I’ll buy a bunch of bananas and have some get too ripe before I can eat them. And when that happens my go to, along with probably everyone, is to make banana bread or banana muffins! I decided to make a vegan muffin recipe because it always interests me when you can swap something so crucial in baking such as eggs with a seed and barely notice a difference. Flax seeds are also better for people with health issues such as high cholesterol. They are also higher in Omega-3’s, contain the antioxidant lignans which promote hormonal balance and are a great source of fiber. Flax seeds also a plant based protein which is very important for the vegan diet. By grounding the flax seed you receive more benefits, such as soluble fiber and all those other nutritional benefits listed above. Whole flax seed just passes through the body barely getting absorbed.
The ratio to create a flax egg is simple, 1 tablespoon ground flax seed (you can use a coffee grinder to turn whole flax seeds into ground flax seed) and 3 tablespoons water. Mix the water and flax seed together and let sit 5-10 minutes. It will turn into a slightly gelled mixture. I used Bob’s Red Mill ground flax seed or flax seed meal.
So what about the history of banana bread? Bananas are a tropical fruit and in the 1800’s when trading and shipping foods to America were becoming more frequent bananas started to get shipped up north. However, bananas ripen quickly so a lot of the time the bananas would be overripe by the time people would buy them. Shipping bananas became even more popular with the invention of refrigeration but bananas were mainly just eaten as they were. During the Great Depression people used their overripe bananas in anyway they could because nothing could go to waste. During this time, baking soda and baking powder were just starting to be mass produced so quick bread recipes started to be published in cookbooks. With the need to use overripe bananas and easier access to chemical leavers banana bread was born.
VEGAN BANANA MUFFINS
Yield: 16 muffins
- 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flax seed and 6 tablespoons water)
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (55 grams) vegetable oil or coconut oil, vegan butter or canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) flour
- 1/2 cup (50 grams) rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or chocolate chips (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin tray with papers or coat it with cooking spray.
- In a small bowl combine the ground flax seed and water, mix together and set aside 5-10 minutes.
- In a large bowl mash the bananas, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix together until combined.
- Mix in the vanilla, oil and flax eggs.
- Add the brown sugar.
- Mix in the flour and oats and combine until 75% mixed if adding nuts or chocolate chips. Mix fully if your not adding anything.
- If using walnuts or chocolate chips, add in and mix until all ingredients are completely combined.
- Fill muffin papers 3/4 full and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
These banana muffins are addicting but the great part is they’re healthy!
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