Banana French Toast Muffins
Today I bring you Banana French Toast Muffins, soft and moist banana muffins with a fluffy french toast topping and a sprinkle of peanut butter chips. 
Confession time. I’m already failing on part of my New Year’s resolutions. Still going strong on yours, are you? Fight the good fight, my friend! Some of my resolutions have been easy: Read more books. Easy, given my house turned camp strep throat for a month and I discovered my car needs work, hence the only escapes I’ll be making soon will be into books.
Spend less time on things with no real value in life. I’ve been doing good on this one, too. Instead of letting myself get sucked into meaningless clickbait, spending half an hour, okay, more, reading utter nonsense, I’ve been mindful to ask myself, “Come one, is it worth _____ minutes/ hours of your life, Amy?” Never fails, it never is. I’ve been playing games on my phone less also, only indulging when I’m stuck waiting somewhere. Both are such time sucks. Marie Tsum Tsum why do you evade me!
Exercise more. Fail so far. I bought a new knee brace so I could get out and exercise more. My knee got too fat for my old one ← last year’s excuse. I found an exercise class that sounded fun and had a time that worked for me. It filled up before I could register.
Eat breakfast everyday. Fail. Breakfast is a struggle for me. By the time that I’ve fed my children breakfast, I’m ready to move on to the next part of my day. I bought some bananas recently to make myself Chunky Monkey Breakfast Chia. I really love that stuff. But half the bananas were devoured instantly, from shopping bag to hungry kid. The rest of the bananas I found mysteriously stored in the corner behind the food processor. By that time they were riiipppee. Hidden next to them was a slightly stale half loaf of bread. (Mom Detective theory: A child selfishly squirreled them away and forgot about them.)
2 ripe bananas and half a loaf of slightly stale bread. What’s a gal to do with those? Well, this gal made some lovely moist banana muffins with fluffy french toast topping and for good measure sprinkled them with peanut butter chips. Delicious breakfast? Indeed! Frugal fixing? You betcha. I’m counting this one a big win.
You guys know by now that I love frugal recipes using humble ingredients. Last week’s Maple Bacon Cornbread is a good example, so are my Instant Oatmeal Scones, both rely on simple pantry finds. Well add these muffins to the list. The base of these banana french toast muffins is a moist and flavorful banana muffin. The topping gets all wowwy. Part of the mashed bananas is saved to incorporate into the batter for the french toast topping, giving it a light banana flavor. I only added a teaspoon of peanut butter chips to each muffin because I didn’t want the peanut butter to overpower the bananas, but if you don’t like peanut butter, feel free to omit them from the recipe. I just really like PB and B! These taste great as is, but for full french toast effect, drizzle the tops with warm maple syrup and enjoy!
PS: Best of luck on your resolutions!
PPS: If one of your resolutions was to bake more, here’s a good place to start⇓
Banana French Toast Muffins
Soft and moist banana muffins with a fluffy french toast topping and a sprinkle of peanut butter chips.
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 2 large mashed bananas, (Reserve 1 heaping Tablespoon for topping)*
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cup all purpose unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the French Toast Topping:
- 6-8 slices bread
- 3 Tablespoons milk
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon mashed banana*
- 1/3 cup peanut butter chips, if desired
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare muffin tins by lining with paper liners or greasing well with shortening.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, (reserve one heaping Tablespoon of finely mashed banana for the French toast topping mixture) sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- Stir in remaining dry ingredients and mix until all ingredients are just moistened.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling 2/3 full and then set aside.
- To make the French toast topping, remove the crusts from the bread and cut into cubes.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, vanilla, and reserved heaping Tablespoon of mashed banana to make the French toast batter.
- Place the bread cubes in the batter, turning so every piece is evenly coated with batter.
- Place one heaping Tablespoon of the French toast topping onto the top of each muffin.
- Sprinkle a teaspoon of peanut butter chips onto the top of each muffin, pushing lightly into place, if desired.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until the tops are lightly brown and set.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 15 Serving Size: 15 ServingsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 242
I find this recipe very confusing. It would help if the ingredients are organized based on the batter vs the topping. For example, should the topping or the batter get the 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (the other gets the 1 teaspoon vanilla)? It is unclear. Also, it seems that step six and step seven are out of order. They should be switched. It makes it seem like the bread cubes are to mixed into the topping. I made this recipe with Silk protein almond/cashew milk because I am currently dairy free. I also subbed melted coconut oil for vegetable oil, and I added cinnamon and nutmeg to the French toast topping. I pressed DF chocolate chips into a few muffins, but I didn’t have any peanut butter chips. Despite the confusing recipe, I thought the muffins tasted great. I would add a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup to the finished muffins when serving. Something added to the topping to make it crunchy would be even better.
Thanks for the feedback Alex, I’ve rewritten the recipe to make the instructions more clear.
Amy, thanks! This looks so simple to make, yet looking really satisfying and tasty!
Hi this looks soooo yummy can I use chocolate chips instead of the peanut butter chips (allergic to nuts )
Absolutely! That sounds delightful Annemarie. (Food allergies are the pits. I’m allergic to mushrooms.)
Love your pics and wooden board! Speaking about the recipe… Yes, I will make it soon…! Thanks for sharing
How beautiful are these muffins! French toast muffins?!? And bananas?! I am SO IN!
Thank you Whitney, I hope that you enjoy them!
Oh my these look amazing, anything that involves bananas is always a winner in my book:-)
Me too Camilla! What’s your favorite way to use up bananas at your house?
I LOVE that these are made from leftovers! They look delightful!
Thanks Kristen, with 4 kiddos, 2 of whom are teenagers, I’m all for stretching ingredients as far as I can.
Oooooh!! Now those look good! I love this twist on an old fave.
I think that’s probably my favorite kind of recipe, the new twist on an old favorite!
a delicious treat for sure.
Oh yum, what a great flavor combination!
These look soooo good. I basically love anything with banana in it. These are a must try. 🙂
For the first time, I found some food squirreled away in the pantry! No hidden bananas yet, though. This recipe looks great. We might have a snow day in our future… These will be perfect!
I love when you can use leftover food items to create something new, especially when it’s as delicious as these muffins! My kids would go crazy for these 🙂
Me too Sara. You know that saying, “Necessity is the mother of all invention,” I think it’s especially true when it comes to new recipes! My kids loved these, as did my husband. They were all snuck out of the house, which was fine by me because I would have snacked on them all day long.
These look yummy!!!!! And it’s almost time for my mid-morning break – wish I had some to eat.
Also wanted to tell you that your blog is looking good. Liking the way you have it set up.
Thanks Kathie! You should make some to take to work for mid-morning break. And thanks for the compliment on the blog! I have been doing some small tweaks here and there on different things. I’m glad to know that you not only noticed the changes, but that you liked them. I also redid my email newsletter this week, you’ll have to tell me what you think about it.
this is my kind of recipe – find what you have on hand and use it!
Yep, that’s pretty much my life philosophy Heather!