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Banana Oat Muffins Make Quick Breakfast

Like many families, we try to minimize the amount of processed sugar we eat. But, it is lurking everywhere, and we are eating far more processed sugar than our grandparents did. How to combat this trend that seems to have sneaked up on us?

We need to know exactly what is in our food, and you might be surprised by what "healthy-sounding" foods have processed sugar or other weird ingredients and chemicals hiding in them. Remember that sugar can have lots of different names, such as "syrup" or "sucrose" (the suffix "ose" usually means sugar), so the sugar gram count can be helpful.

Second, buy more foods without labels. When we buy whole foods and then cook them ourselves, we know exactly what is going into them. Third, favor sugar from natural, unprocessed, whole sources. While fruit-sweetened foods still have sugar, it's not a highly-processed derivative, and it brings with its sweetness a full set of other nutrients. Bananas, apples and dates bring vitamins, minerals and fiber along with their sugars. Try recipes using them as sweeteners.

Last, keep production of treat items in-house, meaning make less healthy items homemade, so you can control what goes in.

Banana Oat Mini-Muffins

Servings: 26 muffins

Start to finish: 40 minutes

1/2 cup (gently packed)

pitted dates

2 tablespoons coconut oil

(or other oil or butter)

2 medium bananas, ripe,

roughly chopped

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups rolled oats (or

gluten-free variety)

3/4 cup almond flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking

powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the wet ingredients: Place the dates in a small bowl and pour 1/2 cup boiling water on them and let them sit for 5 minutes to soften.

Once soft, pour off the excess water (do not drain; leave them very wet), and use a fork to smash the dates gently into a loose paste. In a stand mixer using the whisk attachment (or hand mixer), mix the date paste, coconut oil and bananas on medium high speed until soft and creamy, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one, and add the vanilla. Prepare the dry ingredients: Place the oats in a dry blender or food processor and pulse until oats become a coarse powder.

Pour into a bowl and add almond flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and salt and whisk to mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients half at a time, mixing after each addition. If the dough becomes too thick for the whisk attachment, fold in using a rubber spatula.

Use a small ice-cream scoop or a tablespoon to scoop dough into a mini-muffin pan fitted with paper liners.

Bake until muffins spring back to the touch, about 17-20 minutes.

Nutrition information per serving: 68 calories; 30 calories from fat; 3 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 17 mg cholesterol; 55 mg sodium; 8 g carbohydrate; 1 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 2 g protein.