A fun little bite-size banana muffin loaded with apples and pecans. These Apple Pecan Banana Mini Muffins are a better-for-you muffin made with whole wheat flour, maple syrup, and hemp seeds for a little extra protein.
My family is crazy about banana bread. It’s probably the thing we bake the most. Any time we have bananas that are past their peak, we’ll whip up a batch of banana bread.
So when King Arthur Flour announced their 2018 Recipe of the Year is Whole-Grain Banana Bread, of course I had to try it. King Arthur has made it easy to change up the recipe as well. For the recipe, they created a Build Your Own Banana Bread Interactive Recipe Generator.
We had a pot luck / family reunion coming up, and I wanted to bake something to take. I wanted something that was not too sweet, since I knew others were bringing desserts. So King Arthur’s whole wheat banana bread recipe seemed like a great choice.
The recipe called for dried apples, but there weren’t any at the store, so I substituted crushed apple chips instead. Pecans are one of my favorite nuts and pairs well with apples, so I added pecans to the recipe.
The recipe generator let’s you include chia seeds, but I used hemp seeds instead since I bought a big bag at Costco recently. Some of the oil in the recipe is replaced with yogurt, so they’re a little lower in fat and calories.
I wanted the bread to be easy to serve, so I decided to make mini muffins instead of a loaf of banana bread. To make the mini muffins, you’ll need two mini muffin pans.
You can spray the muffin cups with non-stick spray, but I prefer to use these baking cups. I haven’t seen them in stores, but they peel away from the muffin so easily, without leaving muffin on the paper.
These Whole Wheat Apple Pecan Banana Mini Muffins are such a fun, cute size. They were a hit at the party and I’m sure they’d be a hit at your house as well.
Apple Pecan Banana Mini Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups mashed banana; about 4 or 5 medium bananas.
- ¼ cup yogurt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup chopped dried apples
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center position. Lightly grease a 2 mini muffin pans (24 muffin cups each pan) or line with muffin papers.
- In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana with all of the remaining ingredients except any mix-ins (chips, nuts, seeds, etc.) Beat the batter thoroughly, until everything is well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat briefly to incorporate any sticky residue. Stir in the mix-ins.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, until the bread feels set on the top, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs (but no wet batter). If you have a digital thermometer, the bread's temperature at the center should register about 205°F.
- Remove from the oven. Cool it in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
- Store leftover muffins, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for several days. Freeze for longer storage.
More banana bread recipes you might like:
Chunky Monkey Banana Bread, Barbara Bakes
Ultimate Banana Bread, Barbara Bakes
Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread, Barbara Bakes
Snickerdoodle Banana Bread, Shugary Sweets
The Best Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Wine and Glue
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2pots2cook
will gladly take the leftovers to work, if any left 🙂 Thank you very much for this one !
Letty / Letty's Kitchen
mmmmm. I love that white wheat flour and it is getting harder to find than before. These look delicious and I have a lot of mini muffin tins!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Carol! The hemp seeds aren’t as noticeable as the chia seeds. I think you’ll like them.
Carol
I love mini muffins and that flavor combination sounds delicious-no wonder they were a hit at your family gathering!. I’ve used chia seeds and flax seeds in baking but never hemp seeds-something new to try. When I buy bananas, I always seem to have a few “tired” ones left on the counter that need a home at the end of the week-this would be the perfect recipe to use them up. I do love the white whole wheat flour and keep it on hand for yeast bread baking. Looking forward to making a batch of these !little beauties. 🙂