Eat Well, Be Well, Live Well

These muffins will please even the most stubborn anti- gluten-free individual. Deliciously moist with a cake like texture, they will get devoured in minutes, and you’ll find yourself waiting impatiently for the remaining bananas on your counter to ripen so you can make another batch. In fact, I plan to put three or four of my bananas in the sun tomorrow to help speed up the process. Bananas are perfect for baking when their peels are speckled brown (see photo below).

The natural sweetness of banana combined with the coconut milk and almond flour means you only need to use a little added sugar in these muffins. I wrote the recipe for 1/2 cup since I’m often accused of taking out too much sugar, but I make this recipe with 1/3 cup sugar and my family considers them plenty sweet. Feel free to experiment and finds what works for your taste. And last weekend, I only wanted chocolate chips in a few of the muffins to surprise the kids, so instead of mixing the chips into half the batter, I simply sprinkled a few chips in each cup after spooning the batter in, and the chips sunk down and baked in nicely. I ate mine with scrambled eggs and sauteed tree oyster mushrooms–the perfect balance of sweet and savory!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour

1/2 cup almond flour (I like Honeyville)

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp cardamon

2 eggs

3/4 – 1 cup ripe banana, mashed (about 2-3 bananas)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted or olive oil

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, optional

Other options: 1/3 cup currants or vegan chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F.

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Whisk the first six ingredients together in a medium-size bowl.

In a large bowl, gently whisk the eggs until pale yellow in color. Whisk in the mashed banana, followed by the vanilla, milk and oil. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until just combined. Fold in the nuts and/or currants or chocolate chips if using. Spoon evenly into the 12 cups of the muffin tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Allow muffins to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm, plain or with a little butter.