Just like Banana Nut Vitatop muffins in flavor, but this copycat version is made gluten free and low carb with no sugar added!
I hate to disappoint people. I always want to help my friends when I can and I love to participate and watch everything my kids are doing. I'm a hands on momma. I don't want to miss anything. But if you follow my blog you know right now I'm in the middle of a cookbook deadline, my first deadline ever and I've only got two weeks to get this done. I have no idea what will happen if I don't and I certainly don't want to find it. This has been the single most difficult thing I think I've done in my life, especially with 3 kids, homeschooling, volunteering with scouts, trying to keep up recipes for the blog and a full schedule of activities every day and night for the kids.
This past weekend I worked from 7 am until 7 pm on Saturday and a good majority of the day after church on Sunday. This cookbook deadline is looming over my head and I honestly just want to finish it sooner than later. This coming weekend is a cubscout camping trip which depending on how far along I am I might just have to skip. And the weekend before the cookbook is due is a Black Belt test for my oldest and Father's day, obviously those are things I just can not skip. Figuring out how to say no to things my kids are involved with or volunteering has always been a challenge for me. Like I said I hate to see disappointment in my children's faces or in my friends. I have a need to please and it can be a curse in a way.
I'm having to learn to say no and accept a sad face when I say I can't make it to that soccer game or softball game like I had to do over the weekend, but it's for a greater cause and I keep reminding myself it's only a temporary season and it won't be forever. Sacrificing certain things for the sake of my sanity is most important at this time or at least that's what I keep telling myself anyway.
BUT my passion is cooking. I wouldn't have a blog if I didn't love to cook. I love to feed my family healthy food and surprise them with goodies that are still good for them. Cooking is a stress relief for me. I NEED TO COOK. So although this week and next will be a trying time and quick meals will be a must and the hubby will be putting in overtime with kid duties and dinner, I did manage to make these quick banana bread muffin tops I've been wanting to make forever. We had some ripe bananas and I knew this would be an easy recipe to pull off and make without sugar or gluten.
They're almost like a soft oatmeal banana cookie is what my picky teen said. The first batch I made with unsweetened applesauce instead of banana, and they were like my apple oatmeal muffin recipe. So if you have allergies to banana, applesauce is always an option. You can add chopped nuts to these and they will completely resemble the banana nut vitatop muffin you might know of. The first batch I made I added different toppings, some with chopped pecans, some with chocolate chips and I left some plain.
You can certainly eat two, but the portion for the nutrition info is for one. I like to spread some peanut butter over the top of mine. Cream cheese and jelly would also work nicely too. Or eat too because for just 78 calories and low carbs, why not!
Soft, light, fluffy and healthy to boot, can't beat that!
Below you can see how you can easily just top each one with anything you like, just like my Personalized Baked Oatmeal recipe that went viral. The sky's the limit. Have you seen the amount of comments with so many varieties of toppings people share about those? If not, you should totally check it out, amazing. Some of them blow away my typical toppings of just raisins or chocolate chips or dried cranberries. Trail mix is also a great one to add.
I think the best part about this recipe is the fact it takes so little time to make it. Prepare it within 10 minutes and bake for 20, done!
These were a win with my picky teen and hubby, daughter, and little man. I made two batches and they were gone by the next day! That makes me happy. Feeding my family something healthy like this for breakfast or a snack is why I even have a blog and why I'm even blessed to be writing a cookbook. I'm going to focus not on the panic of it all, but the amazing opportunity I've been given to share my recipes with so many. Showing others that a life free of refined sugars due to allergies or choice doesn't have to be torture. Yes today I will focus on that and continue on one step at a time. 🙂
Brenda's Notes:
- If you have an allergy to bananas or just don't like them, sub the 1 cup with unsweetened applesauce.
- You can use whatever milk you like to make it dairy free if needed.
- If you don't have a whoopee pie pan or muffin top pan just place 12 mound of batter onto a silpat lined baking pan. I'm guessing it's about a ¼ cup of batter or just a tad more for 12 muffins. Please let me know if you try it that way and how much it was.
- If you are gluten free, make sure your rolled oats are certified as gluten free. I used Bob's Red Mill.
Copycat Banana Bread Vitatop Muffins {Gluten Free}
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats certified gluten free
- ½ cup flaxseed ground
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon liquid vanilla stevia
- ½ cup milk 1%
- 2 ripe bananas mashed, about 1 cup
- Optional toppings: sugar free chocolate chips chopped pecans, dried cranberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Whisk together the first 5 ingredients and set aside.
- In another bowl whisk the eggs, vanilla extract, stevia and milk.
- Add the mashed bananas to the wet mixture and stir to combine.
- Pour the wet into the dry mixture and stir just to incorporate.
- Spray a muffin top pan or whoopie pie pan with nonstick cooking spray or grease with coconut oil.
- Pour batter evenly into pan and add additional toppings if desired.
- Bake 20 minutes.
- Cool slightly then remove from pan and place onto a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Jenn
I made these for my family tonight. The house smelled heavenly while they were baking! We liked the taste, but we all agreed that the texture would take some getting used to. I'm going to make them again and use the unsweetened applesauce instead of bananas.
Jackie
I made these and sprinkled about 1 tsp of mini chocolate chips on each. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk as the milk. They turned out fantastic! I've had a muffin top pan for about 2 years and never used it. This recipe gives me a good reason to bring it out! Thanks for the great recipe!
Kelly S.
Do you think it would work to substitute pumpkin for the banana?
Brenda
That sounds like a great sub, but just know the pumpkin is not as sweet as banana so you may need to add more sweetener.