How to Make Banana Muffins with Fresh Milled Flour
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Banana muffins are a great way to use up overripe bananas. We all have those ugly, black, too soft banana on the counter every now and then. Don’t throw them away! Combined with fresh milled flour, those yucky brown bananas can make a delicious and highly nutritious grab-n-go snack!
This banana muffin recipe is basically just banana bread- but portable. Muffins are quicker and easier to bake. Plus, they come in individual portions, which means less dishes when it’ time to serve them. They freeze well and keep kids full for a long time too.
Table of contents
- Why use fresh milled flour
- Waste not, want not- don’t throw away those banana
- Flour to use in your banana muffins
- Ingredients for banana muffins
- Ingredients to make a streusel topping
- How to make banana muffins
- How to freeze banana muffins
- How to serve banana muffins
- Common Questions about fresh milled muffins
Why use fresh milled flour
Fresh milled flour is a whole food. Industrial processing has not removed any important parts. You can knwo that a factory has not treated it with chemicals. You can read more about all the amazing benefits of using fresh milled flour in my blog post about it.
Fresh milled flour can be a very budget friendly way to get a lot of nutrients into your diet. Homesteaders often have myriad avenues to get nutrition into their family’s regular meals. Pasture raised meats provide high quality protein. Raw milk from grass fed cows provides amazing nutrition. Homegrown fruits and veggies that come from healthy soil are full of vitamins and minerals.
When those other things are not an option, or resources run low, fresh milled flour can be a simpler way to boost the diet. Bulk grains store easily, take up very little space, and last forever. Milling flour and making baked goods can be much less labor intensive than raising animals. Fresh milled flour doesn’t have to be an all day, everyday solution, but it is an excellent solution for nutrition in a lot of seasons.
Waste not, want not- don’t throw away those banana
Banana bread has long been the champion of using up old, gross banana that are past their prime. This muffin recipe is no different. When you forget to use up fresh banana, or no one wants to eat them, you can whip up this recipe. Even still, if no one wants the muffins while they’re fresh, you can pop them in the freezer. Then, pull them out when everyone is in the mood for them.
With the price of groceries ever increasing, learning to transform food into something new and wonderful is a necessary skill. You’ll need to practice turning ingredients that are almost expired into a new, edible creation. Whether that means taking leftovers and cooking a whole new meals with them, or rescuing your overripe banana to make muffins, it’s a skill worth having. And this muffin recipe is a great place to start!
Flour to use in your banana muffins
Fresh milled flour is a broad term that describes a flour that you mill yourself, right in your kitchen, from a whole grain. It can be a vague term since there are more than 20 whole grains and dozens of species within each category. Most recipes will specify flour type within the ingredients list. This recipe is specifically designed for spelt, soft white wheat, and hard red wheat.
Don’t get too bogged down with the fresh milled flour world. You will quickly get sucked into a rabbit hole that raises more questions than answers. Pick a grain, and learn to use it. Once you have a feel for it, you can expand to other grains. Don’t feel pressured to pick the perfect grain either. The internet will have you convinced that you aren’t taking care of your family unless you do exactly what some influencer says, but that’s not true.
Any whole grain made into fresh milled flour is going to be exponentially more nutritious than store bought flour, purely for the fact that the store-bought flour has a ridiculously long shelf life. All that time spent on the shelf makes that flour devoid of life and nutrition. Check out Azure Standard or the Bread Beckers for bulk grain options.
Ingredients for banana muffins
In addition to the fresh milled flour and almost-gone bananas, you’ll need a few other pantry staples.
- salt (use a high quality salt like this or this)
- baking powder
- baking soda
- butter, melted
- egg
- sugar (any sugar works, but we like coconut sugar or honey)
- 1 cup greek yogurt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- optional: add a cup of chocolate chips for a chocolate chip banana muffin
Ingredients to make a streusel topping
- flour
- brown sugar
- sugar
- cinnamon
- salt
- cold butter
How to make banana muffins
Just like many other baked goods recipe, this one follow a basic principle. Mix wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients. Then combine the two.
Smash the bananas and mix wet ingredients
Use a fork, pastry cutter, or potato smasher to mush the banana up. You can leave chunks, or smash it until it is smooth. That is totally up to you and your preferences. Then mix in all of the remaining wet ingredients. I’m including all of these as were ingredients: melted butter, egg, yogurt.
Mix dry ingredients separately
In a separate bowl or container, I mid together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk those together well to incorporate the soda and baking powder, or you may end up with a clump that makes a bite taste nasty.
Then, mix in the sugar and cinnamon. All of your dry ingredients should be thoroughly combined. Even though you may be tempted, don’t sift the flour. Sifting will remove some of the most nutritious parts of your fresh milled flour
Mix all the muffin ingredients together
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until all of the dry mix has become wet. Set this bowl aside while you preheat the oven and prep your muffin pans. Fresh milled flour takes a little extra time to soak up liquid. That soaking time will allow you to preheat the oven well.
Preheat your oven and prepare muffin tins
Set your oven to 400º. Once it’s preheated, give it another 5-10 minutes to regulate the temperature inside. Meanwhile, place a cupcake liner into each cavity in your muffin pan. This recipe will make 12 extra large muffins or 24 regular muffins.
We like to make extra large muffins if they’re meant to be a complete meal or regular size if they’re just a snack. You could even do mini muffins if you have smaller kids or want more portions. I use these XL muffin pans and these liners.
If you want to add the optional streusel, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the mixture until it’s crumbly. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin.
Bake your banana muffins
Put your muffins into the oven and let them bake for 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If it is clean, the muffins are fully baked. Return them to the oven for a few minutes if the toothpick has batter on it. If you’re doing a different size muffin, try these baking times:
- mini muffins: bake 10 minutes, or reduce oven to 375º for 15 minutes.
- standard muffins: bake 18 minutes
- XL muffins: bake 20-22 minutes, or longer if need
Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter. You can also let them cool and place them in a cookie jar or pie plate on display. If you want to save some for later, you can freeze them.
How to freeze banana muffins
Allow the muffins to cool completely. Store in a gallon size freezer bag. Squeeze all the extra air out of the bag and seal it well. They will stay fresh up to about 6 months in the freezer.
When your’e ready to serve them, you can pull an entire bag out or individual muffins. Set them on the counter to thaw or microwave for 10 seconds at a time.
How to serve banana muffins
Banana muffins go great with several other foods. They’re pretty filling as a standalone meal or snack, but you could also try them with:
- a cup of coffee
- scrambled eggs
- a fruit smoothie
- healthy popsicles to make it fun
Common Questions about fresh milled muffins
Fresh milled flour makes baked goods that are amazingly soft! They may not be light and fluffy, since fresh milled flour doesn’t rise as much as all purpose.
You can definitely use soft white wheat and spelt. Many other fresh milled flours behave similarly, so don’t be afraid to experiment.
Freshly milled flour maintains all of its nutrients. You will get the benefit of eating a whoel food, where none of the important parts have been removed.
Banana Muffins with Fresh Milled Flour
Equipment
- 1 whisk
- 1 grain mill optional if you have a source for fresh milled flour
Ingredients
Banana Muffin Batter
- 3 bananas overripe, brown, but not rotten
- 2 1/4 C spelt or wheat, freshly milled
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 C sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 C butter melted
- 1 egg
- 1 C yogurt greek or regular
- 1 C chocolate chips optional
Ingredients to make a streusel topping
- 1/4 C flour
- 2 Tbs brown sugar
- 2 Tbs sugar
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1 pinch salt
- 2-3 Tbs cold butter
Instructions
How to make banana muffins
- Just like many other baked goods recipe, this one follow a basic principle. Mix wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients. Then combine the two.
Smash the bananas and mix wet ingredients
- Use a fork, pastry cutter, or potto smasher to mush the banana up. You can leave chunks, or smash it until it is smooth. That is totally up to you and your preferences. Then mix in all of the remaining wet ingredients. I’m including all of these as were ingredients: melted butter, egg, yogurt.
Mix dry ingredients separately
- In a separate bowl or container, I mid together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisk those together well to incorporate the soda and baking powder, or you may end up with a clump that makes a bite taste nasty.
- Then, mix in the sugar and cinnamon. All of your dry ingredients should be thoroughly combined. Even though you may be tempted, don’t sift the flour. Sifting will remove some of the most nutritious parts of your fresh milled flour
Mix all the muffin ingredients together
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until all of the dry mix has become wet. Set this bowl aside while you preheat the oven and prep your muffin pans. Fresh milled flour takes a little extra time to soak up liquid. That soaking time will allow you to preheat the oven well.
Preheat your oven and prepare muffin tins
- Set your oven to 400º. Once it’s preheated, give it another 5-10 minutes to regulate the temperature inside. Meanwhile, place a cupcake liner into each cavity in your muffin pan. This recipe will make 12 extra large muffins or 24 regular muffins.
- We like to make extra large muffins if they’re meant to be a complete meal or regular size if they’re just a snack. You could even do mini muffins if you have smaller kids or want more portions. I use these XL muffin pans and these liners.
- If you want to add the optional streusel, combine all ingredients in a bowl. Using a fork or pastry cutter, cut the butter into the mixture until it’s crumbly. Sprinkle streusel over each muffin.
Bake your banana muffins
- Put your muffins into the oven and let them bake for 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, the muffins are fully baked. If not, return them to the oven for a few minutes. If you’re doing a different size muffin, try these baking times:
- mini muffins: bake 10 minutes, or reduce oven to 375º for 15 minutes.
- standard muffins: bake 18 minutes
- XL muffins: bake 20-22 minutes, or longer if need
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm with butter. You can also let them cool and place them in a cookie jar or pie plate on display. If you want to save some for later, you can freeze them.
