Gluten Free Muffins

Banana Muffins Recipe (Gluten Free, Egg-Free, Sugar-Free)

Wet Ingredients/Nuts and Fruit:
3 ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ cup organic Grade A maple syrup (I prefer golden brown muffins so I use Amber color syrup; most muffin recipes call for ¾ cup white and/or brown sugar, but I found ¼ cup maple syrup is more than enough with the sugar of the ripe bananas making the muffins quite sweet already)

½ cup melted organic unrefined coconut oil* (boil some water, then scoop out several tablespoons of coconut oil into a bowl; place the bowl in another bowl filled with the hot water to soften the coconut oil)

3 tbsp. organic unsweetened apple sauce

1 tbsp. Chia seeds + 7-8 tbsp. warm water** in a bowl, wait for few minutes to let it gel

½ cup chopped walnuts (I buy organic walnut halves and then quarter the halves using a serrated knife on a board, instead of buying pre-chopped nuts found in the baking section as those rarely taste fresh)

* Substitutes for oil: 1 stick unsalted grass-fed butter (melted to room temperature); or ½ cup regular olive oil used for baking

** Chia seeds soaked in warm water create similar texture to whisked eggs; for those with egg allergy this is a good substitute; I only recently discovered Chia seeds’ health benefits and I sprinkle it on my yogurt, etc.

Dry ingredients:

¼ tsp baking soda

1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)

½ cup tapioca starch (or tapioca flour, I’ve used both, either one works; tapioca starch gives muffins a bit of a bouncy texture, some more spring, which I prefer)

¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free flour (which contains xanthan gum, white rice flour, tapioca flour, potato flour, etc. or any other brand gluten free baking flour you prefer)

1 cup Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour (or any other brown rice flour brand)

A note on flour: I always use a total of 1 ¾ cup flour, but I’ve experimented with different compositions (for e.g., only use brown rice flour, but that came out too dense for my taste; I’ve also tried garbanzo bean flour, but beans are hard to digest for me). I found above mix seems to work quite well so far. To get the texture you like, feel free to experiment.

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (or about 180 Celsius)

Mash ripe bananas with a fork in a bowl

Whisk together with a fork the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, chia seeds gel, apple sauce in separate bowl; add the mashed bananas and incorporate well

Use a whisk to whisk together dry ingredients in separate bowl (I found using an egg whisk, rather than a fork, to sift dry ingredients works well to avoid any lumps of baking soda from happening)

Combine banana mixture and dry ingredients using plastic spatula; add in the walnuts (avoid overmixing to prevent muffins from getting tough)

Scoop muffin mixture into greased 12-muffin pan or silicone muffin pan

Bake in oven anywhere from 20-25 minutes (mine take 22 minutes) till toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean

Enjoy with black tea or coffee while having conversation with loved ones and friends

Hope you enjoyed making this recipe. If you have any feedback or comments, please let me know