Sugar Free Banana Pecan Muffins #MuffinMonday

A naturally sweetened whole grain muffin full of bananas, dates, and toasted pecans.

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Today's muffin is a a delicious blast from the past. As my daughter was revising my drop down recipe index during her Spring Break she commented, 'you have a lot of muffins'. Since she's been the beneficiary of most of those muffins, I rolled my eyes at her and went back to my book. However, it did remind me that I've been wanting to share this recipe for Muffin Monday.


This recipe does not use granulated sugar. Nor does it use any sugar substitute your grandma wouldn't recognize--unless your grandma lived in the 1800s in a northern climate away from rail transportation and never saw a banana. Most folks alive and reading this on a screen probably have grandmas who grew up with dates, too. These fruits are what I used to sweeten this muffin, on purpose, and I think they make an excellent combination.



When I initially made these muffins I was training for and then walking in my first half marathon. I read thru my words from 5+ years ago and they still spark joy for me, so I am leaving them on this page as it is my website. However, I'm sure you're here for a sugarless whole wheat muffin recipe, so the words are now relegated to the bottom of the post and we'll have a Muffin Monday recipe instead.

For more recipes using bananas, please see my Banana Recipes Collection. For more recipes using dates, please see my Recipes Using Dates Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

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Notes: I like to eat these muffins spread with peanut butter. As with many baked goods using bananas or other fruits, these muffins are better the next day. I've gotten into the habit of making my banana muffins in the afternoon/evening and then eating them the following day.

Sugar Free Banana Date Muffins with Pecans
By Kirsten Madaus

A naturally sweetened whole grain muffin full of bananas, dates, and toasted pecans.

Prep time: 00:15
Cook time: 00:15
Total time: 00:30

Yield: 10 to 12 muffins
Ingredients:

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
3 large ripe bananas
1 egg
⅓  cup vegetable oil
¼  cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups (6 ounces by weight) whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt (I use Diamond Crystal kosher)
½ teaspoon Penzey's Baking Spice (or cinnamon/nutmeg combination)
1 cup finely chopped dates (the finer the better, this distributes the sweetness more evenly)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and heat a dry skillet over medium heat.

Toast pecans in skillet until fragrant, then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Spray a 12-hole muffin tin or line with papers.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine bananas, egg, oil, vanilla, and buttermilk.

Dump dry ingredients on top and mix slightly.

Dump toasted pecans and dates into bowl and mix gently until just combined.

Scoop** into prepared pan.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until lightly browned.

Cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack until completely cool.

These muffins are even better the next day.

**My scoop holds 3 Tablespoons (1 ½ ounces) by volume, though the muffin batter is mounded in the scoop so I'm pretty sure I'm putting a good 3 ½ to 4 Tablespoons into each muffin well. The muffin wells in my regular muffin pans each hold 3 ounces by volume.

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

• Browned Butter Banana Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Small Batch Apple Nut Oatmeal Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Strawberry Banana Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Sugar Free Banana Pecan Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts

(from the original post) Why did I change things up and start with the recipe? Because, my subtitle for these muffins would be Marathon Muffins, and I'm not really sure if the majority of folks coming to check it out are interested in the back story. So recipe first, writing second today.

What did you do over the weekend? Kick back, relax? Me, I went for a stroll on a rainy Saturday morning. A 13.1 mile stroll (plus a good half mile to/from the event itself). Yes, I walked (no running, thanksverymuch) the 2013 USAF Half Marathon, and I'm here to tell you that these muffins enabled me to have my Personal Best Time. Apparently all that dog walking and milk lugging over the past 6-7 months paid off.

I should probably point out that this was my first rodeo half marathon, so any time would be a Personal Record, but I'll credit the muffins anyway.

These banana pecan date muffins contain nothing besides the sweet ripe fruit to make them delicious.  The morning before the race/stroll I grabbed one, broke it in half, smeared peanut butter on half, and choked it down ate it.  [I was nervous, and the PB kinda glued my mouth shut.]  I'm not much of a breakfast eater the first few hours I'm awake, so I saved the second half of muffin.  It was delicious by the time I finally got back to the car.  And the next day the muffins were even better, as baked goods containing bananas and nuts often are.  Try this plain--or with peanut butter--before walking a half marathon or as an after school snack.  It's up to you--but remember the Personal Record guarantee.  I stand behind it!

Yes, I have 2 bibs and 2 medals--the spouse walked his half marathon, bibless on a treadmill, in his exotic foreign locale and I wore his bib underneath mine so he'd get credit for his efforts. I was a second faster, though, under 3 and a quarter hours! We earned those beers . . . that I drank for the both of us.