Banana Cashew Muffins

I decided to make a new muffin recipe to start off the week right.  I love having ready-made breakfasts on hand so that I can just grab something healthy before I leave the house for the day.  It just starts my day off on the right foot! 

I adapted this recipe from my favorite cookbook of all time, How It All Vegan.  Their recipe calls for blueberries and bananas, but I figured I'd leave the fresh berries to serve on the side with yogurt (my favorite way to eat a muffin!) so I substituted nuts instead.  

I also added in Wheat Bran for a little extra fiber, and some spiced tea for an extra kick.  

Banana Cashew Muffins
Adapted from the recipe in How It All Vegan
Makes 9 muffins
Time: About 1 hour

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup dry sweetener (I used whole trade sugar)
1/2 cup oil
1 cup soy, almond, or flax milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp maple extract (optional)
1 banana, mashed
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
2 Tbsp wheat bran
1 cup raw cashews (or any other kind of nuts you have on hand!)
1 black tea bag (any kind will do, but one with vanilla notes will work best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and sweetener.  Cut open the tea bag and dump the contents into the mix.  

This is the kind of tea that I used, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand!  I think anything with vanilla in it is just an added bonus. 

Your dry mix will look "peppered" when you add the tea bag - but it just makes it even prettier!

Add the remaining ingredients and stir together gently until "just mixed".  

Spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins. 

You can fill 'em up pretty high, they don't rise too much.  You can use muffin liners too if you'd like, but I like to crumble my muffins, so I didn't use them.  You can also sprinkle some brown sugar or extra nuts on top at this point if you'd like something a little extra!

Bake for 35-40 minutes.  Test with a knife to see if done.  

Easy peasy, huh?  I love recipes like this that you can just throw together and keep munching on the rest of the week.  The added fragrance of the tea really brought out something special in these guys.  I can't wait to have them for breakfast again tomorrow! 

As a note, I would recommend storing these in the fridge in a container - it'll make them last longer!  Take one out when you first get up and let it come to room temperature as you get ready for the day.  Or zap it in the microwave / give it 5 minutes in the oven at 300 degrees, so it's toasty. Yum yum!