Happy Friday friends!  I am so excited for the weekend and the fact that it is going to be cold again for a few days!  Houston never gets this much cold weather in the winter so I am loving being able to make all the cozy food and wear all of my sweaters that have been in boxes since we moved here!  When the weather shifts there few things I love more than baking in the kitchen.  There is something about a warm and delicious treat right out of the oven that is so comforting and perfect on a chilly day!  My healthy peanut butter and jelly oatmeal muffins are just the treat that you are going to want to make this weekend and every weekend from here on out!

We are a peanut butter and jelly kind of house.  We all love them as much as when we were little kids, and well Parks has had a love of Peanut Butter from the moment I first gave it to him!  Just last weekend I made us all PB&J's after church for lunch and every time I eat one, I think " dang this is so good."  It brings me back to my childhood in all the best ways possible and I have yet to find a combination of flavors that beats peanut butter and jelly.  Just give me a spoon and the jars and I'll be a happy girl.

Since peanut butter and jelly are such a dynamite combination I figured they would make a muffin pretty amazing too!  I love creating muffins that are filled with good for you ingredients so that they can be enjoyed for breakfast or for an afternoon snack and you can feel good about what you are feeding your family and yourself!  

What I love about these muffins in particular is that they are made with no refined sugars, whole wheat and oat flours, coconut oil, and have a good amount of protein from the peanut butter!  And because you can make them in advance they are perfect for school lunch boxes, on-the-go breakfasts (thats only if you manage to have any leftovers after you the weekend!)  Probably best to just make a double batch...

One thing is for sure, your whole family will be gobbling up every last one of these yummy muffins and asking you to make more!

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Oat Flour

• 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda

• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder

• 1 Tsp. Cinnamon

• 1/4 Tsp. Salt

• 1 Egg

• 1 Banana

• 1/3 Cup Coconut Oil

• 1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter

• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

• 1/2 Cup Coconut Sugar

• 1/2 Cup Milk

• 8 oz. Favorite Jam or Jelly (I used Strawberry)

Note: Make your own oat flour by adding rolled oats to a food processor and pulsing until a flour like consistency.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• In a large bowl combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and whisk to combine.

• In a small saucepan melt coconut oil and peanut butter over low heat and whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly.

• In another large bowl mash banana and then add egg, vanilla, and milk and combine well.

• Whisk in coconut sugar into the wet ingredients until smooth.

• Slowly pour in melted coconut oil and peanut butter mixture into the wet ingredients and incorporate well.

• Pour all of the wet ingredients slowly into the dry ingredients and stir until all ingredients are just combined.

• Line muffin tins with liners and using a small cookie scoop, place one scoop of batter into the bottom of each liner. (If you don't have a cookie scoop, just use a small spoon and your finger to remove batter.)

• Next, spoon a teaspoon of jam on top of each scoop of muffin batter in the center.

• Finally, add another scoop of muffin batter on top of each teaspoon of jam so that the jam is in the middle of two batter layers.

• Sprinkle with extra whole oats if desired.

• Bake for 17-18 minutes.

• Let cool and serve immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Note:  If inserting a toothpick to test doneness, it will not come out entirely clean because of the jam in the middle of the muffin and you want them to stay moist on the inside so don't overcook them.

I am telling you that these muffins are addicting and you have to make them this weekend!  Just go ahead and thank me now...