Oat Carob Banana Muffins make a sweet healthier snack or afternoon tea time treat! This easy recipe combines wholegrain oats with buckwheat flour, carob and banana for tasty, nourishing, soft muffins.
So…I’m back in SYDNEY! Back home. It feels a little surreal, and while I’m typing this Oat Carob Banana Muffins recipe up I’m still feeling a little jet-lagged and dreamy. The world looks and smells different from here! So familiar, yet after three years there’s still a need to get acquainted with it all over again.
For a moment though, let’s hail back to my life in London with these Oat Carob Banana Muffins as that’s where I developed and photographed this recipe! I didn’t get around to posting it while I was actually living there because #workinglife – things got so hectic during my last few weeks there especially! And then during our month in Barcelona, I kinda forgot about these beauties and got excited about making new things…
But aren’t these muffins just so pretty looking? They definitely need to go up on the blog!
Combining oats, buckwheat and mashed banana for a nutritious, high-fibre muffin base, these Oat Carob Banana Muffins are a delicious sweet treat. The sweet flavour in these comes from carob powder (I received mine from Indigo Herbs – this isn’t a sponsored post, just an FYI) and coconut sugar. Together, they give you a rich, malty/caramel-ish sweetness.
If you’re not familiar with carob, it’s made from the seed pod of the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), which is also called St. John’s bread or the Locust bean tree. The pods are roasted and then ground down into a powder, which is the carob powder you buy. It’s kind of similar to cocoa powder, but sweeter and lighter in flavour. This means it’s quite nice for using in treats for kids (no caffeine either).
My Oat Carob Banana Muffins are dairy free and nut free, perfect for popping in to a lunch box for a snack! They freeze well so will last for ages. The muffins are gluten free so long as you use gluten free oats. If you can’t find them, try substituting buckwheat flakes or quinoa flakes in for the oats instead!
Oat, Carob and Banana Muffins
Ingredients
- 100 grams rolled oats - approx. 1 cup + 2 tbsp*
- 100 grams buckwheat flour - 3/4 cup
- 63 grams coconut sugar - 1/2 cup
- 60 grams carob powder - 1/2 cup
- 2 tsp baking powder (gluten free)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 eggs
- 180 grams banana - approx. 2 large bananas, preferably very overripe
- 100 mL olive oil - I use extra virgin
- 100 mL rice milk or other milk of choice
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
OPTIONAL
- 1/2 cup sultanas to mix into the batter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C and line a 12-cup capacity muffin tray with liners/baking paper.
- Place oats in a food processor or blender and pulse into a coarse flour (it's okay if some chunky bits remain).
- Combine the oats, buckwheat, coconut sugar, carob, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mash the bananas to form a thick puree. Add in the eggs and whisk. Add in the olive oil, milk and vanilla and whisk again.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients to form a thick batter. If you are using them, mix in the half cup of sultanas too.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin holes. Then, bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until the centre of each muffin feels just firm to touch.
- Allow the muffins to cool on a wire rack and then store them in an airtight container. Keep them on the bench top for up to 2 days, or refrigerate for up to a week (they're nicest warmed up a little before eating). The muffins can also be frozen where they should keep at least 3 months.
Notes
Love a healthy baking recipe? You might also like:
- Oat and Honey Pumpkin Muffins
- Grain free Zucchini Banana Bread
- Buckwheat Carrot, Date and Walnut Muffins
hi , i was wondering if i could make these into a loaf instead?
I haven’t tried it as a loaf myself, but I don’t see why not 🙂
Hi,how many calorier has 1 muffin and can I make them without banana? Or instead banana and also instaed of buckweat flour? Thanks a lot, Sofia😊
Hi Sofia, I would not recommend making this many swaps – the banana is an essential part of this recipe as it adds moisture. You might need to find another recipe, I’m sorry! 🙂
Hi Monique, the muffins really look good! Just wondering, could I substitute buckwheat flour with wholemeal atta flour? Will it affect the texture?
I think you would be able to make this substitute, yes 🙂 The muffins may be slightly more crumbly, but you could add one extra half of mashed banana.
we loved these!
We subbed the buckwheat for sorghum as my son is sensitive to buckwheat. And used brown sugar and standard milk as thats all we had.
They turned our perfectly and were happily gobbled up by the kids. Thankyou for this recipe, we will be keeping this as a regular. A sneaky ‘ chocolate’ cupcake recipe 😀
Hi Bec, thank you so much for this lovely feedback and also for letting me know about the recipe substitutions too – it’s really helpful to know!
I want to make these but have a buckwheat allergy. What can I use as a substitute or can I simply leave it out?
Hi Johanna, you could substitute brown rice flour, teff flour, plain flour (regular or gluten free as needed) or spelt flour (not gluten free but not sure if you need it to be GF) 🙂
My favourite muffin recepie ever!!! I always make it for visitors as a special treat and it always goes down so well. Although not everyone loves carrob, it’s a hit. I looove them, always fluffy and never dry. Thankyou for sharing!!!
Renae 👌😊
Thank you so much for this sweet message Renae! So happy you and your visitors are a fan 🙂
You make the most beautiful food! I’m always in awe of your stunning photos! These muffins look and sound amazing and I love that you used carob … one of my favorite flavors.
Aw Emily, thank you SO much. The stress of taking food photos is all worth it when I get a beautiful comment like this 🙂 And I love carob too! I hadn’t bought any for ages and it was such a pleasure re-discovering it again!
Wow, what a stunning looking muffin recipe. Thanks for sharing about carob powder – it sounds amazing in baked goods!
Yang, thank you so much for your kind words 🙂 Carob is such a nice addition to baking, it’s got so much sweetness to it so it makes really lovely cakes!
Yum! I love the little banana on top!
Thank you Linda! Couldn’t resist a bit of decoration 🙂
These look so heavenly! I love a good muffin recipe, and now I need to go buy carob powder.
Thank you so much Jean 🙂 I love a good muffin too – it’s such a classic baked good that always makes me happy. Yes, definitely grab some carob!!
This is a great muffin to work into my muffin rotation for Thursdays before school! Thanks!
Aww thanks so much Renee! Hope you do get time to give these a go. I LOVE that you have a regular muffin rotation going, I think you’re awesome!
These are gorgeous! I’m sure they taste delicious too! Great way to use up my buckwheat flour 🙂
Thank you so much Joni! I always have buckwheat flour around so am constantly baking with it! 🙂
Yummy! I love how chocolate-y these look even though there’s no chocolate!
Thanks Lindsey! Yep, carob is so good for getting that chocolate-like look without cacao. It’s quite sweet too so I find you can go lower on sweetener too 🙂