Breakfast · Desserts

Paleo Banana Muffins

thedishonhealthy

 

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So, are you a muffin or a cupcake person? For me, the answer depends on the time of day you pose the question at. I crave warm muffins for breakfast & cupcakes the rest of the day. Simple enough logic, right? 

A healthy banana muffin can make for the perfect breakfast to-go, in all seriousness. It’s the ultimate convenience of “grab-n’-go” with the goodness of a simple, few, all-natural ingredients. All things you can pronounce; none of the chemicals, additives or unhealthy ingredients often found in commercial muffins. No high fructose syrups, soybean or palm oil, monoglycerides, sneaky white sugar or enriched white flour. Or any flour, for that matter! These banana muffins are grain-free, a term that we’re often seeing more and more of in today’s dietary trends.

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So what exactly does grain-free mean? Is it the same as gluten free? Not quite. Muffins can be gluten free and still be made from various grains, other than traditional wheat flour. Gluten free goodies can be made from chickpea flour, white or brown rice flour, GF oat flour, buckwheat flour, quinoa flour, corn flour or a mix of all of these. That would not make the muffins grain-free, per se. A grain-free muffin would be made with most likely almond or coconut flour. The two most popular types of grain-free flours currently available to all paleo bakers. I’ve been trying to bake more and more with coconut flour because of it’s amazing affordability: a small amount goes such a long way!

These muffins involve a tweaked version of my banana bread recipe, sans the all-natural peanut butter and with the addition of a combination of GF baking powder & baking soda. I slightly modified and played with the recipe to bring you these moist, fluffy, naturally sweet muffins that are full of goodness.

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My love of muffins new no limits, and it was all fun and games until my jeans wouldn’t zip up, quite literally. I really enjoyed a banana nut muffin with coffee as a morning snack when a decently-timed lunch at work seemed more like mission impossible. A muffin and some tea would “tide me over”. But let’s be frank, I wasn’t buying healthy muffins. They usually came from mainstream, über popular coffee shops. They were probably at least 350 plus calories or more a muffin. If you’ve never stopped to check nutritional content on muffins you may be surprised- and not pleasantly. And if you follow this blog, you know I don’t count calories. I just pay attention to where my calories come from. These coffee shop muffin calories weren’t coming from a nourishing source. I felt I wasn’t eating “a lot,” but I was making a string of bad choices. They add up.

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This super simple recipe will turn your mornings around & it’s a BIG hit with my kids. Little hands love these muffins (see picture above), it was pretty darn hard to take a picture because cheeky little hands were pouncing around me, eagerly trying to snatch one (or two) of these beauties. I promise you mornings will never be the same! The best part; you can freeze them after baking so you can make them way ahead of time.

The best advice to eating well is: If you keep your fridge stocked with good things: you will most likely eat good things. 🙂

gluten-free-banana-muffins

Best Paleo Banana Muffins

  • Servings: 10 muffins
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Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of coconut flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp of baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup of ripe mashed bananas (about 3 large ones)
  • 1 tbsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave
  • 1/3 cup of coconut oil, melted

Optional toppings: chopped pecans, walnuts, chocolate chips or toasted coconut.

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 F & prepare a 12 cup muffin pan ( or two 6 muffin pans) by lining them up with cupcake paper holders or greasing them with coconut oil.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients first and give them a good whisk in a large bowl: coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and the pinch of salt.
  3. In another large bowl, crack the eggs and give them a good whisk. Mix with the mashed banana, coconut oil, vanilla extract & maple syrup.
  4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl & whisk well by hand until you get an even paste. If it feels a bit dry, I usually throw in a tiny little splash of almond milk and this solves the problem.
  5. If you’re doing any toppings, fold them in the batter at this point. I like to leave some behind so that I can sprinkle them on top of each muffin when they’re in the muffin pans before they bake.
  6. Scoop the batter into each of the muffin cups. 2 muffin cups will be empty. I fill them up halfway with water so that the muffin pan weight is evenly distributed while cooking.
  7. Another little trick of mine (if you enjoy a crunchy muffin top, that is), is I sprinkle a bit of coconut sugar before they go in the oven.
  8. Bake for 18-20 mins, enjoy warm with a glass of cold milk or strong coffee in the morning!
  9. These freeze very well inside ziplock bags. For fresher muffins, always refrigerate any leftovers.

Los Mejores Muffins de Banana

Ingredientes

  • 1/2 taza de harina de coco
  • 1/2 cucharadita de polvo para hornear
  • 1/2 cucharadita de bicarbonato de sodio
  • 1 cucharadita de canela molida
  • 1 pizca de sal
  • 4 huevos
  • 1 taza de bananos machacados (aprox 3 bananos grandes)
  • 1/3 taza de jarabe puro de maple o agave
  • 1/3 taza de aceite de coco líquido
  • 1 cucharada de extracto de vainilla puro

Toppings: Se le puede agregar walnuts, pecans, chispas de chocolate obscuro, o coco tostado y quedan deliciosos!!!

Instrucciones

  1. Encender el horno a 375F y alinear un molde para 12 muffins o cupcakes con copitas de papel
  2. En un tazón grande, mezclar bien todos los ingredientes secos: harina de coco, polvo para hornear, bicarbonato, y canela.
  3. En otro tazón grande, mezclar bien todos los ingredientes líquidos: batir los huevos primero, luego se agrega la taza de bananos machacados, el jarabe puro de maple, la vainilla, y el aceite de coco. Se mezcla muy bien hasta obtener una mezcla uniforme.
  4. Se agregan los ingredientes líquidos al tazón con los ingredientes secos y se mezclan muy bien hasta que no hayan rastros de harina.
  5. Si van a agregar toppings, este es el momento para agregarlos a la mezcla. Me gusta dejar un poquito aparte para dejárselos caer a los muffins encima antes de meterlos al horno. Si les gustan con la parte de arriba un poco mas dulce y crujiente, agregar una pizca de azúcar de coco a cada muffin antes de meterlos a hornear.
  6. Se deja caer 1-2 cucharadas de la mezcla al molde con los muffins, 2 copias de muffins quedaran vacías, pues la mezcla solo da para 10. Llenar las copas vacías hasta la mitad con agua, para así mantener el peso bien distribuido en el horno y que todo se cocine por igual.
  7. Hornear por 18-20 mins. No hornear demasiado, pues la harina de coco se reseca con facilidad.
  8. Que los disfruten!! Son buenísimos con café o con leche de almendra fría.

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