whole wheat banana muffins with homemade coconut butter

Coconut Butter. 
I had never heard of such a thing until I stumbled upon this easy how-to.

And that, my friends, is why I sometimes really love the internet.
I always think about housewives back in "the day" and wonder what they did without new recipes at their finger tips every day.

I love trying new things, I love coconut, and who DOESN'T love anything with "butter" in the title, so I just had to whip this up.
All you need....
is....
drumroll......
COCONUT. 

That's it.

Unsweetened shredded coconut, which you can find in the bulk section of health food stores.
You can use any amount you like--for this I used 2 cups.

Dump it into your food processor
and go and go and go. 
Every few minutes you'll want to stop and scrape down the sides. 
After about 10 minutes you'll have silky smooth coconut butter!

Coconut butter sets up quickly and is solid at room temperature.
It can be flaked off easily, or microwaved for just a few seconds for the perfect drizzle.

And what better to drizzle it on, than muffins.

I don't make a lot of muffins.....
you see, when I think about muffins, they remind me of cupcakes, and I would much rather make cupcakes than muffins--wouldn't you? So I usually get distracted while thinking about cupcakes and forget I ever wanted to make muffins.
That was a long explanation, but it is all very true.

But these muffins are a great little snack, and one hundred times better for you
than a cupcake at snack time.
They are lightly sweetened with maple syrup, and nice and filling with whole wheat flour and oats.

Whole Wheat Banana and Oat Muffins
makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

1/2c pure maple syrup
2 eggs
4 very ripe bananas
3/4c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2c whole wheat flour
1c whole oats (not instant)
1/4 c ground flax seed
1/4 almond meal (you can make your own after you make your almond milk)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

in separate bowl mix together flour, oats, flax, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.

mix coconut oil and maple syrup on high speed for a few minutes.
add eggs, one at a time until mixed in.
add vanilla, bananas, and buttermilk until well mixed.
slowly add in flour mixture, mix just until blended.
don't overmix.

spoon batter into muffin tins lined with wrappers or greased.
place on bottom rack in oven and bake at 350° for 22-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
remove from pan and cool on cooling rack.

top with your homemade coconut butter

enjoy!