Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana & Walnut Mini Muffins
4OK – So if you love banana bread you will love these gluten free dairy free banana muffins, because let’s face it, they are just mini banana bread bites! Yes, little bites of heaven, and they only take half an hour to prepare and bake before you are diving into the trough of bananayumma! The best thing about these gluten free banana muffins? You can almost eat them in one bite! LOL! Seriously, if you are looking for great allergy free recipes for muffins this easy recipe is a winner.
As I have said a millions times, I always go nuts with bananas. This time it is walnuts that get the divine privilege of laying in the trough with my beloved banana. There is a reason why banana and walnuts are a ubiquitous combination -- they are just simply meant to be together. It is a culinary match made in heaven. The sweetness of the banana takes the edge off the bitterness of the walnuts and brings out the best in its nutty counterpart. I had some over ripe bananas sitting on the counter top this morning and they have found a happy home in this gluten free dairy free muffin merger.
We had a beautiful birthday party for my little friend Chay today, and these gluten free banana muffins were a perfect addition to the fabulous Humpty Dumpty cake my sister made. My brother-in-law Leigh lovingly spent hours last night making the Humpty Dumpty you can see in the background of the photo. My sister made a phenomenal allergy free dairy free, gluten free, egg free, nut free ballerina bear cake for my niece’s first birthday last weekend, and this latest creation was equally as fabulous. I think she has found a new calling as a cake decorator! Kat’s son Chay certainly agreed today and he happily blew out his candles and carved into Humpty’s wall, content enough to never put him back together again!
Chay’s confident young mother is a far cry from the shy young girl I met on the bleachers at high school in Singapore many years ago. My parents became Kat’s guardians while she went to boarding school and she has been like my sister and part of our family ever since. Her hubby, mum, Chay and Loki flew down from Brisbane to spend the weekend with us this week, and we had a decadent weekend of fabulous food, love and laughs! Always a winning combination. These yummy gluten free dairy free banana muffins were all part of the fun with Humpty! After a few too many gluten free banana muffins today, I think I can count myself as “dumpty". Well, not really.....they are very tiny after all!
Just like any good self respecting banana bread, the key to the success of these gluten free dairy free banana muffins is to use the ripest sweetest bananas you can find. Then the natural sweetness will just dance around the walnuts with love, and create a perfect mini bite of perfection! OK, so maybe I am getting a bit carried away. But they are pretty delicious; and best of all -- DEAD easy and quick to make. I just threw everything in my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. If you are looking for great mixer recipes that are allergy free this one is a goodie!
I will admit that, like my pecan banana bread, they are decadent. I am a bit naughty using so much maple syrup. But what can I say? Nothing but the best for my bananas! If you are concerned about the GI and sugar levels you could always substitute agave nectar or another natural sweetener. Just remember that it will yield a gluten free muffin with a slightly different personality, and you might have to play around with the other quantities just a tad to get the consistency of the batter just right. But I have used a lot of different sweeteners and it all works.
I don’t know why I try to fool myself by making banana mini muffins, thinking they are not as big so I can eat more of them? I have to say though, with this particular gluten free muffin recipe, I find that it yields better results to make smaller muffins. They cook more evenly and you end up with a much springier moist gluten free banana muffin that is not so dense. They also make great little gluten free cakes with tea, or gluten free dairy free snacks to put in school or work lunch boxes. Either way, whip up a batch of these treats and your snout will be banananutty!
Gluten Free Dairy Free Banana & Walnut Mini Muffins
- 1/2 cup of white rice flour
- 1/2 cup of brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
- 1 tsp xanthan
- 1 tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup cold pressed grapeseed oil
- 2 organic eggs beaten
- ½ cup organic soy milk, hemp milk, almond milk or rice milk
- 1 cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp natural vanilla extract
- 1 cup of chopped raw walnuts
- 5 large very ripe bananas mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
- Sift together dry ingredients and mix well with a fork.
- Place all wet ingredients in the stand mixer and slowly add in the dry ingredients until well combined.
- Stir in mashed banana and chopped walnuts and pour into well greased mini muffin tins.
- Cook in a moderate oven 160 C/325 F for about 30 minutes until cooked and skewer comes out clean. YUM!
Makes 12 muffins
Piggy Cooking Tips
freeze those ripe bananas for yummies later
To ensure you always have a stash of frozen ripe bananas for your smoothies, muffins and breads, never throw away ripe bananas. Just keep freezing them whole in their skins in a ziplock bag. The riper they are (not soft and mushy) the sweeter they are - meaning you will need little or no sweetener! You can keep adding to the bag. Then when you need them, take the desired amount out of the bag and then rinse and cut for delectable frozen treats. I buy a bunch of bananas every week that I let ripen on the bench top and then freeze for use later. Bananayumma!
One word- YUMMY!!