BANANA ESPRESSO MUFFINS

A wonderful cook and friend once told me that it can take several attempts in the kitchen to construct a good sweet treat. Often when baking is concerned, it is trial and error and numerous muffins, cakes and slices get made before the right amount of each ingredient is found. This was exactly the case with this recipe. These Banana Espresso Muffins were adapted from a favourite cookbook of mine; 'Super Natural Living' by Heidi Swanson. Heidi is an all natural ingredient kind of gal and is the author of the very popular culinary websites 101 Cookbooks and Mighty Foods. I dug up her book out of my moving boxes and was eager to create something of hers. This is my gluten and dairy free take on her very wholesome banana espresso muffins (tried and tested several times).

INGREDIENTS

• coconut oil, to grease 
• 1/2 cup gluten-free flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 cup gluten-free self-raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts & almonds (around 3/4 cup of each nut)
• 1 heaped tablespoon fine espresso coffee powder
• 6 tablespoons nutalex, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup organic maple syrup
• 3 large free-range eggs, beaten lightly 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 1/2 cup coconut yoghurt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed over-ripe banana (around 3 large bananas)

BAKING 

1. Heat a fan-force oven to 190 degrees celsius (375 degrees F). Lightly grease a 12-hole muffin tin with coconut oil. 

2. Place the flours, salt, baking powder, 3/4 cup of the mixed nuts and espresso powder in a large bowl and stir well to combine. 

3. In a separate large bowl, whisk the nutalex until it takes on a fluffy consistency. Pour in the maple syrup and the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, yoghurt and mashed banana and stir well to combine. Gently stir in the dry ingredients slowly, trying not to over mix the ingredients (or you will find yourself with tough muffins). 

4. With a large spoon, spoon the batter evenly into the muffin tin holes. Note that this recipe makes quite a decent amount of batter so you can make oversize muffins if you want by filling the muffin holes to the brim. Top with the remaining 3/4 cup of mixed nuts and place the tin in the lower part of the oven. Bake for 50 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for 5 minutes before placing the individual muffins on a wire rack to cool completely. 

Makes  / 12

Total Preparation / Baking time / 25 minutes / 50 minutes 

x Emily