Banana Muffins (a little healthier)

My sister just can't buy bananas! Well, she can, and she does...but then she always lets them go bad. Ok, not ALWAYS...but a lot of the time! What does she do then? She brings them to my house because she knows that I simply CAN'T throw away a banana. It would be a sin. Really.

So, quite often, I am forced to bake banana muffins or banana bread, or banana pancakes, or banana gumbo, banana Wellington, banana rarebit...just kidding. But you get the idea.

She means well. (Although I secretly think she's trying to make my bottom bigger!)

This recipe is kinda, sorta healthier than the regular, fully leaded stuff...but it still has all of the flavor of the not as healthy ones.

This is what I start out with: bananas, applesauce, egg, flour, Splenda (or generic in my case) sweetener, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of sugar that didn't make it into the photo.

First, I preheat the oven to 375*, and line some muffin tins with paper cups...but you could just spray them, I do that, too. Mash the bananas with a fork. Add the applesauce (I used unsweetened), egg, and Splenda. (Ignore the fact that there are two eggs in this photo...I was doubling the recipe, but I'm only writing the recipe for a single batch.)
Stir it all up.

On top of this I dump the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Stir until just combined.

If you are like me and can't help but be a little bad, throw in some chocolate chips at this point. But only if you want to. They're really not necessary, but chocolate is full of antioxidants and so I like to think that I am doing my body a favor by adding it. About 1/2 cup would do. Or you could even throw in some walnuts. Can you say omega 3's?

Really! Only stir until JUST combined.

Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 to 3/4 full. One recipe makes 10 to 12 muffins depending on how many other goodies (i.e. chocolate chips, nuts) that you add.

For the topping, I take some REAL sugar, a bit of cinnamon, and a dab of butter and mush it all up with a fork until it is coarse crumbs.

I put about a teaspoon of topping on each muffin.

Throw those bad boys in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. (I use the toothpick method for testing for doneness.) Also, please ignore my dirty oven racks. The oven gets a workout in my house!

Goodness gracious! These are delicious!

I always have to make a few without topping for my youngest that has an aversion to the sugary crumb topping. I know, right? Who could not like the best part! Strange child!

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Banana Muffins (a little healthier)

3 bananas, very ripe

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup Splenda

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:

1/3 cup sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray 10 muffin cups or line with papers.

Make the crumb topping in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas with fork and stir in applesauce, Splenda, and egg.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Stir until just combined. (Note: if you are adding any goodies, add them at the same time as the flour mixture.)

Fill muffin cups 2/3 to 3/4 full. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of topping over the muffins. (This recipe makes ample topping so throw on more if you like.)

Bake 20 to 25 minutes (but start checking them at 18 minutes) until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Enjoy! Guilt free...kinda...