Banana Bread Muffins with Almond Butter Filling

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

This is probably my favorite day of the Christmas season. Growing up we always had our big Christmas celebration (opening presents, going to the church service, snacking away on delicious food, caroling, etc.) on Christmas Eve then took it easy and lounged around the house on the 25th!

If you have some time around the house today, and are making some goodies or planning on a big breakfast/brunch for Christmas day, you should definitely make a batch of these Banana Bread Muffins with Almond Butter Filling! They are very easy to whip up, they make the whole house smell of delicious banana bread, and they taste AMAZZZZZZING! Helloooo!

I was at home last weekend cleaning the house when I saw some bananas that were fastly moving past their prime. I hate throwing food out if I don’t have to, so I figured a batch of banana bread was in order. Then I thought why not muffins.. so I went to the internet to find some recipe inspiration! I of course wanted no refined sugar and to use whole grain flour!

Then I was thinking… how can I take these muffins to the next level..”hmmm maybe dark chocolate chips, or walnuts, or …. aha! Almond butter filling!”

I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised when I peeked in on the muffins while they were baking in the oven and saw that the almond butter was making a pretty swirl through the muffins! It worked!! Yay, success!

I used the honey I got from the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in November. They produce the honey on the rooftop of the lodge with their own bee hives (pretty cool!). You wouldn’t believe that there is only 2 tablespoons of honey in the whole batch, and that’s the only sweetener! Along with the natural sugars in the bananas, the honey makes these muffins perfectly sweet!

The almond butter adds a dose of protein and healthy fats and the whole wheat flour brings in the fiber. These muffins are perfect for breakfast, brunch, as a snack on-the-go, or really anytime you feel like! At only about 150 calories each, they are perfect if you are watching your calorie intake too!

I hope everyone has an amazing Christmas holiday! I will be taking a few days break from posting, but will be back again with some more deliciousness later this week!

Oh!! And make sure you stay tuned for some very exciting additions to Nutritionist in the Kitch in the New Year!

2013 is going to be a good one, I just know it!!

4.0 from 1 reviews

Banana Bread Muffins with Almond Butter Filling

 

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Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup natural almond butter
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter, honey, vanilla extract in pan on low heat. Remove. Set aside.
3. Mash bananas in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, measure out flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt.
5. Mix honey mixture with bananas. Then mix that into dry ingredients. Be sure not to overmix.
6. Grease a muffin tray, or use liners if you wish.
7. Fill each muffin cup ½ full of mixture.
8. Drop in one tablespoon of almond butter in each muffin cup, then top each muffin cup with a small amount of muffin batter just to cover the almond butter.
9. Bake in oven for about 20-25 minutes. Leave in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then remove and cool.

Nutritional Information

Serving size: 1 muffin Calories: 151.7kcal Fat: 6.4g Saturated fat: 2.2g Unsaturated fat: 3.8g Carbohydrates: 22.7g Sugar: 7.6g Fiber: 2.8g Protein: 3.2g

3.5.3208

*Recipe adapted from Best Of LA

Merry Christmas!

Christal

Nutritionist in the Kitch