Delicious banana cinnamon muffins for babies, toddlers and kids! These are entirely fruit sweetened (no sugar) and use a blend of whole wheat and oat flours. Fill your freezer with these healthy mini muffins and you will always have homemade snacks for your baby or toddler to hand.

Sooo, snacks are really no joke when you’re a toddler parent. I’d always heard whispers about kids and snacks, but I never truly appreciated how relentless the need to provide endless streams of food would be.

I just can’t seem to keep up. So I confess that Odette eats a lot of pre-packaged snacks. Things like crackers, puree pouches and cereal. While I have a freezer stash to ensure that her meals are generally home made, snacks have always snuck up on me.

Until now!!!!

I’ve finally got myself together and started making batches of these toddler muffins. Total winner. Odette loves them, they freeze well, they travel well, they’re as healthy as muffins get.

I have a freezer stash so I can pull them our for snacks at home, or pack them in lunch bags for outings (letting them defrost en route).

Sometimes if I have no food in the house I will center her lunch around them, giving her 2 or 3 mini muffins + some slices of cheese + a veggie packed squeeze pouch. She’s happy as can be with a little snack plate.

Why these muffins are perfect for babies & toddlers

100% fruit sweetened. No added sugar, or concentrated sweeteners – all of the sweetness comes from whole and pureed fruit. And yes I know fruit contains sugar, but it also contains the necessary fiber to stop it from giving you a big glucose rush, and you get all the benefits of the fruit alongside it.
A mix of light wholemeal flour and oat flour. Oats are amazing for babies, toddlers and kids! Full of slow release energy, fiber and iron.
So. Much. Cinnamon. And cinnamon is a great spice to get your kids enjoying, because it allows you to flavor all sorts of foods without sugar.
They work well as a finger food breakfast for baby led weaning tots.
They are delicious! So if your tot rejects the muffin, you’ll be happy enough to eat it yourself.
This are a great base recipe which can be enjoyed plain, or with add ins such as blueberries, chopped strawberries, or chopped nuts.

Making these Muffins for Babies + Baby Led Weaning

Muffins are a great finger food to try for baby led weaning. They’re soft and can be sucked on and gummed down. When making them for babies, I would bake them in mini muffin cases and not add any toppings to the first batch. See how they do, and try the next batch with blueberries.

Making these Muffins for toddlers

Once your baby or toddler is a confident eater, you can have a little more fun with these muffins. you are happy for your toddler to have a little refined sugar, you could add some chocolate chips, or glaze them with a cream cheese and honey glaze (something like this, but thinned out a little with milk so it can be lightly drizzled).

At this point, bake them in larger muffin tins and add toppings if you wish!

… And with toddlers too!

Since this is an easy one bowl recipe, you could even get your older toddler involved with baking their muffins!

How to freeze your baby & toddler muffins

These are safe to freeze for about 6 months and defrost really nicely.

However, they can be prone to freezer burn if you place them in a sandwich bag, especially if you bake in silicone and don’t use paper cases. So if you won’t be using them up really quickly, try stacking them in a tupperware with parchment paper between each layer to keep the freezer burn at bay.

Healthy Baby & Toddler Muffins

12 average sized muffins

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 12

Total Time: 22

4.60 from 154 ratings

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Ingredients

3 medium bananas, mashed
¼ cup (4 Tbsp) coconut oil or butter
⅓ cup (80 ml) unsweetened applesauce*
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk
2 eggs
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup (110 g) light whole wheat flour
¾ cup (70 g) oat flour

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 175C or 350F.
In a large mixing bowl, mash your banana. You want a few chunks in there, but it should be mostly smooth.
Melt your butter or coconut oil in the microwave, and whisk it into the bowl with the mashed banana.
Add the applesauce, milk and vanilla to the bowl and whisk everything together.
Add the eggs and whisk until combined.
Sprinkle the cinnamon and baking soda on top of the liquid mixture and whisk to incorporate.
Finally add the wheat and oat flour, and stir until just combined.
Spoon into muffin tins lined with cases (or alternatively use silicone muffin molds sprayed with a nonstick oil spray).
Bake for around 17 minutes (average muffin side) or 12 minutes (mini muffin size) until the muffins are springy and a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes

Your yield will be around 12 average sized muffins, but far more mini muffins, depending on the size of the pans you’re using.

*You can also use a blend of apple + mango or pear puree. I use whatever Organix fruit pots I have to hand (or the Cow + Gate or Aldi versions) and the recipe uses 1 x 95g pot.

Muffin recipe adapted from Kristine’s Kitchen.

Author: Christine Melanson

Serving: 1g, Calories: 46kcal, Carbohydrates: 6g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 2g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 9mg, Sodium: 42mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g

Equipment

Wilton Ever-Glide Muffin Pan, 24-Cup

Kids Bento Box with Leakproof Lid

Healthy Baby & Toddler Muffins

Why these muffins are perfect for babies & toddlers

Making these Muffins for Babies + Baby Led Weaning