Gluten Free Banana Blueberry (or Chocolate Chip!) Muffins
The life of these sweet little muffins began as a craving I had for edible cookie dough. Of course, said cookie dough needed to be gluten free and the only "flour" I had on hand was oats-ready-to-be-turned-into-flour. I don't really even remember the exact recipe but I used date paste (because obviously), some non-vegan butter, chocolate chips, salt, almond milk, maybe some vanilla? And that's about it! After making this a few times I was determined to turn it into actual cookies. But, guys, baking is a whole other ball game. Cooking is instinctual and "a little of this, and a little of that". Baking is a science. Literally, if the ingredients are off by a teaspoon the whole thing could go up in flames. So I tried it! I added some baking powder and baking soda and I think I tried a flax egg? They turned out okay but they were very "cakey". Not something I was super proud of or that I wanted everybody to try so I tabled this idea for a bit.
I got the bug again to try my hand at cookies and tried the recipe a few more times with a few more tweaks. I became discouraged until my husband mentioned once that he thought they were like "cake balls". I laughed and said oh you mean like a cupcake or muffin? LIGHT BULB! I'M GONNA MAKE MUFFINS! Are you following?! It was all downhill from there.
I think I changed two things, including putting the batter in muffin tins instead of on a cookie sheet, and they turned out pretty good! In fact, I was so happy with them that I thought I'd be sharing this recipe with you two or three weeks ago instead of right now. You see my original recipe used only oat flour. It was good but I was looking for more fluff. I remembered in my pre-gluten-free cooking days that adding cornstarch to flour creates a pastry flour so I replaced 1/4 cup of flour for cornstarch. But at the time I was experimenting with this I only had one cup of oat flour and my 1 year old was napping so I was not about to whip out the vitamix to make oat flour. I was determined, though y'all. Luckily I found some almond flour in the back of the pantry and used that and TA-DA! A fluffy, delicious, gluten-free, refined sugar-free, muffin was born!
Did you get all that?! This muffin is:
DAIRY FREE
EGG FREE
GLUTEN FREE
SUGAR-FREE (unless you're using chocolate chips-but you could find sugar free dark chocolate to add!)
OIL FREE
Free from all of the things but still delicious! I'd call that a success! I'd love for you to try them and tell me what you think! Remember to tag me and use the hashtag #plantbasedplanner so I can see your creations!
Gluten Free Banana Blueberry (or Chocolate Chip!) Muffins
Naturally sweetened, nutritious and delicious-these little muffins are the perfect breakfast, snack or dessert!
Makes: 10-12 muffins
Prep time:
Cook time:
- 1 Cup Oat Flour
- 3/4 Cup Almond Flour
- 1/4 Cup Cornstarch
- 1 Very Ripe Banana
- Date Paste (6 dates blended with about ½ cup of water)
- 1/2 Cup Almond milk
- 1 TBS Baking Powder
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- Add-ins of your choosing (blueberries, nuts, chocolate chips)
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- Preheat your oven to 350 and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Make your oat flour and your date paste: Blend about 1 ¼ cups of rolled oats in a high powered blender until a fine flour is formed. Place in medium bowl. Add your dates and water into a blender and blend until “paste” is formed. Place in separate bowl.
- Add the rest of your dry ingredients to your oat flour and whisk until combined, being sure to get any “clumps” out.
- Combine your mashed banana, almond milk, and date paste until smooth.
- Mix your wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Do not over-mix.
- Fold in your add-ins (chocolate chips or blueberries work great!)
- Fill your muffin tin about ¾ of the way full with your muffin batter and bake for 25-28 minutes. I like to top each little muffin with extra blueberries or chocolate chips!
