Hello, muffin.

I. Love. Muffins.

Seriously. One time I had a dream about giant cranberry muffins. Those huge muffins you get at coffee shops? Love those. Since I don’t drink coffee, they’re pretty much the only reason I ever see a need to go into coffee shops. There is just something about a great muffin that I can’t say no to.

Sadly, muffins are not always the most healthy things for you. In fact, they usually make you feel…well, a bit like a muffin yourself.

Enter these little beauties.

While I was home this past weekend, Momma and I decided to whip up a batch of our favorite Banana Bread Muffins. This is a recipe that has been fiddled with to awesome perfection: by replacing some of the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and vegetable oil with whole wheat flour, brown sugar, and applesauce, these muffins suddenly become downright guilt free.

Sprinkle a little wheat germ on top before popping them in the oven and you may just be able to convince yourself that they’re positively good for you. They do have fruit in them, after all.

These guys freeze beautifully, so you can make a batch and munch on them for breakfast or for snacks for a couple of weeks.

Hello, muffin.

Banana Bread Muffins

Makes 12

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup applesauce

3 ripe, mashed bananas

1/4 cup chopped pecans

wheat germ (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tin.

Whisk sugars, oil, applesauce and egg until creamy and light yellow. Add bananas and pecans. Add flours, baking soda and salt. Stir until completely smooth; spoon batter into prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle with wheat germ.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from tin.