Little banana and seed muffins

Happy New Year to y’all! Predictably, I’m doing the healthier eating and trying to get fitter thing – are you? After a disastrous 5:2 diet attempt, crashing and burning on day one at teatime, I decided that 1) diets of ANY sort don’t mix with young children and 2) I don’t deal with hunger very well. So, instead I have decided to make more effort to eat well and basically do a lot more exercise. I am trialling different things – at home yoga DVD, Zumba in the village hall, running, Bootcamp in the park – I’m going to see which ones stick and settle into a routine. I like the sociability of classes, the ‘fun’ aspect. And I want a mix of sweaty and stretchy. Coincidentally the #thisgirlcan campaign just launched, promoting women to exercise more. Have you seen the video yet? No? Go check it out, like NOW! It’s brilliant. Can’t stop watching it, gives me goosebumples!

I digress. Because I am actually here to talk about food, right? These little muffins I made after the people at Anthropologie requested a healthy recipe, in return sending me some gorgeous home goodies, see below piccie (yes, they offer stunning home stuff as well as clothes). It was a no brainer as I love Anthro, and was itching to make a little healthy treat type thing anyway. Generous devil that I am, I’m giving away a divine little book from them. It’s called ‘Eat Pretty’ and you’ll love it – all about ‘Nutrition for Beauty, Inside and Out’ on my Facebook page. Just Like my page (you may already do so skip that part if so), Share the post, and Comment to be in with a chance of winning.

So, the muffies… They have nothing ‘bad’ in them. I don’t like using the word bad when it comes to food, because everything is OK in moderation (even the occasional Big Mac) but you know what I mean. They are gluten free (feel free to switch this up to wholemeal or spelt flour), with coconut oil instead of butter, a little honey instead of sugar – and also bananas and seeds and a few other things. The best bit is they are actually really tasty – my kids adore them (great for after school snacking and breakfast too) and I don’t feel bad when I grab one with a cuppa after a run.

Makes: 24 small ‘cupcake’ type muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients: 
200g gluten free flour (or try spelt or wholemeal – or just good quality plain flour)
1 teaspoon bicarb
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
120g runny honey (or try maple syrup)
225g Greek yoghurt
2 eggs
120g coconut oil, melted gently
100g seeds (I used chia seeds and sesame, 50/50 – but any others would work too)
2 ripe bananas, mashed

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. 
2. Mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder and bicarb, seeds and salt.
3. Combine the wet: honey, eggs, yoghurt, mashed bananas. 
4. Add wet to dry and mix till just combined. 
5. Using a mince pie type / cupcake tin, line the cake holes with little paper liners and add a generous dessertspoon full to each case. You want each one to be almost full. 
6. Bake for 15 minutes. 
7. Enjoy without a shred of guilt – but maybe don’t eat 4 in one sitting like I did!