Tropical Mini-Muffins

1 cup dried mango slices

1 1/2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1 cup flour

1/2 cup oat bran

1 tbsp flaxseed meal

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

coconut

Rip up mango slices into small pieces and place them in a blender with pineapple juice and bananas. Blend until smooth. Add egg and mix with a fork.

In a bowl combine flour, oat bran, flax, baking powder and baking soda. Pour the contents of the blender into the bowl and stir until combined. Place in greased mini-muffin tins and sprinkle with coconut. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. If you prefer normal-sized muffins, use a regular muffin tin and bake for an extra 10 minutes or so.

After having gestational diabetes with both my pregnancies, it’s been ingrained into me to stay away from refined sugars whenever possible. That’s why I’m so intrigued by sweetening baked goods with fruit only. Yes, it’s still sugar and you should consume it in moderation, but the good thing about fruit sugars is that they won’t cause the huge spikes and crashes in your blood-sugar levels like refined sugars do. It’s a much slower burning energy. Plus, fruits contain nutrients and fibre, which refined sugars lack. So there’s my little lesson of the day for you. Now please go make these muffins.

These are the perfect size for little hands. Bennett liked to have one for each hand, that seemed to be very important to him. I made some regular-sized muffins too and Tony liked taking them to work. I made up this recipe in my head, and I was going to add oil or butter but totally forgot, only to discover that they really don’t need any! The bananas make them nice and moist.