Nutty Banana and Blueberry Muffins

Easy, healthy and utterly delicious!

I wanted to take some of my usual breakfast ingredients and throw them together to make an easy, portable breakfast muffin. If I'm making these as a breakfast dish, then I leave out the sugar; In fact I usually leave the sugar out anyway, as I find the banana makes these sweet enough. 

These muffins are some of my all time favs – oats, extra virgin olive oil, dark berries and almonds.

Here’s why: Oats contain insoluble and soluble fibre, which means you get fewer sugar spikes, a happier gut and gut microbes.
Berries contain anthocyanins, a phytonutrient that has all-round health benefits including for your liver. Almonds contain protein, minerals, fat soluble vitamins and great healthy oils. And then there’s extra virgin olive oil, a standout in the good fat category. It contains phytosterols, which naturally lower ‘bad’ (LDL) cholesterol and has anti-inflammatory actions throughout the body, including supporting all types of hormones.
Don’t be afraid to use it in cooking. The International Olive Oil Council says, “When heated, extra virgin olive oil is the most stable fat, which means it stands up well to high temperatures. Its high smoke point 210ºC (410ºF) is well above the ideal temperature for frying food. The digestibility of olive oil is not affected when it is heated.” 

250g (about 1 ½ mugs) oat flour*
50 mls extra virgin olive oil
100g (approx. ⅓ mug) coconut sugar or brown sugar or honey or maple syrup (or leave out the sweetener as I find it is sweet enough without) 
2 large eggs
2 – 3 large bananas, peeled and fork mashed (saving some banana for decorating)
2 teaspoons baking powder
200g (1 mug) ground almonds (almond meal)** 
150g (½ mug) yoghurt
250g (1 large handful) blueberries or other dark berry (fresh or frozen)

* Oat flour is super easy to make yourself. Simply pop the whole rolled oats into a dry food processor and blend until it forms a rough flour texture.
** Almond meal is really easy to make too, by popping whole raw almonds into a food processor or high powered smoothie maker and pulsing until ground.  

Set oven to 180ºC or 170ºC fan forced.
Line the muffin tins with paper or grease them well with some extra virgin olive oil.
Pop all the ingredients except the blueberries into a food processor or a large bowl, and mix until well combined. If the mixture is still quite thick, thin it with a little water or extra yoghurt.
Then fold through the blueberries.
Divide into the tins and bake for about 20 minutes. Check with a skewer to see if the mixture is cooked through, if not, bake for another 5 minutes.

If making as a whole cake, add the mixture into a parchment-paper-lined baking tin approx. 18cm in diameter.
Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or when a skewer comes out clean.