If you’ve bought our granola, you’ve probably noticed the layer of “bits” that gather at the bottom of your bag. If you start collecting all your bits you’ll end up with something that looks something like this: a sprinkly mix of sesame seeds, crumbled oats, pepitas and chia seeds.
In an effort to savor every last bite of our granola we’ve developed a range of creative ways to use these bits. We’ve added them to cookies, sprinkled them on our overnight oats and now I’m sprinkling them on my muffins as my new favorite crunchy, salty topping.
You can sprinkle them on top of virtually any muffin recipe, I just happened to have a few freckly bananas lying around – and when have I ever gone a whole week without a couple of those? These muffins tick all my waste-conscious boxes and reward me for my good doing. Mother Nature approves.
Banana Granola – Nut Muffins
Yields about 18 Muffins
(Based on recipe by Tyler Florence)
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 ripe bananas
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
- ½ cup Salty-Sweet Olive Oil Granola bits
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 1 ½ muffin tins. *the original recipe calls for two full muffin tins but I found that the muffins were too small for my liking distributed between all 24 cups.
In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Meanwhile, mash up the bananas in a large bowl or bowl of an electric stand mixer with a wooden spoon or potato masher. Reserve ½ cup of the mashed bananas in a small bowl. With an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add sugar to the banana mixture and whip vigorously for 3 minutes. Add the melted butter, eggs and vanilla and beat again, scraping down the sides once or twice. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Fold in nuts and the reserved bananas with a rubber spatula. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins to fill them 3/4 of the way up. Finish with a generous sprinkling of granola bits.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean, about 20-22 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
Enjoy!
Charlotte