Vegan Banana Oat-Nut Muffins

This is my own twist on vegan banana muffins.  I had an awesome recipe for banana muffins that I used to make all the time before becoming vegan, but now I think I've finally mastered the ultimate vegan banana muffin.  I made some with nuts and some without, and it good both ways.  My husband even loves them (they just came out of the oven and he already ate two) and he is usually skeptical of my cooking when I convert a recipe to vegan.  So, give these a try; they're really tasty.  (Feel free to cut the recipe in half.  This makes a least 24 big muffins-I usually freeze some and reheat them in the microwave or toaster later)

Ingredients:

6 mashed bananas
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (you can cut some of the sugar and replace it with molasses to make it healthier)
1tsp salt
2tsp baking soda
1-2 tablepoons cinnamon
1-2 tablespoons nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
2 cups of flour
1 cup oats
Chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray cooking spray in muffin tins (you can use papers if you want, just make sure to spray them with cooking spray).
Mash the bananas and add the oil and applesauce.
Add both types of sugar and mix well.
Add the salt, baking soda, and spices
Mix in the flour
Mix in the oats.
Mix in some of the nuts if you're using them (leave some to sprinkle on top)
Spoon the batter into muffin tins until they're 3/4 full
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they look golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
Enjoy with a nice cup of tea!

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

These are amazing! They have no sugar, no butter, no oil, no egg, and they're phenomenal! They've got about 35 calories per cookie, they taste great, and they're filling.  I'm totally in love with these right now.  I made them, ate a few, and then froze them so that I can grab a few out of the freezer and take them with me when I'm on the go.  You can microwave them, or just let them thaw on their own.  You've gotta try these for yourself. 

Ingredients:
2 cups of oats (or oat flour)
2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon (more if you love lots of cinnamon.  I used 2 heaping tsp)
3/4 teaspooon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of vanilla
4 bananas (the ones I used were pretty large. It's best to use really ripe bananas if possible)
Nuts (optional. I didn't use them because they're expensive and add calories, but I'm sure it would be delicious to add in walnuts or pecans)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Grind the oats into oat powder (or just buy oat powder to begin with).  I got a Cuisinart gadget for Christmas that didn't look very fancy, but it ground up these oats into oat powder in a matter of several seconds.  It was pretty neat. 

3.  Add the baking soda and cinnamon to the ground oats.

Oat Flour, Cinnamon, Baking Soda

4.  Mash up the bananas and add the vanilla to the bananas.

Mashed bananas

5.  Add the banana mixture into the flour mixture.

Banana Oat Cookie Dough

6.  Put aluminum foil on a tray and spray with Pam (I always do this to cut down on clean-up)

7.  Use a teaspoon to drop cookie dough onto the tray. I can usually make 25-30 cookies from this recipe.

Unbaked cookies

8.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until they start to look golden.  The bottom of these cookies won't really burn, but they'll get tough if they're baked too long.  To keep them soft, try not to over-bake them. 

9.  Let them cool a little bit, then you can eat them, freeze them, or keep them in the fridge. 

This is a great healthy snack and would be a wonderful breakfast.  Let me know if you like them!

Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies