Mooooorning!
I’m extra excitable today because it’s Friday… and these are the best banana muffins everrrrrrr.
Anyone plan on doing a bit of baking this weekend? Nothing better than a house full of the cosy smell of baking, and especially if it’s a rainy Saturday or Sunday morning.
These are light, fluffy, sweet, moist in the middle and crisp on the outside. What more could you possibly want from a muffin?
Although I do have to admit that it took me a couple of goes to get the recipe right for these. I originally used buckwheat flour, which is naturally gluten-free and works really well in pancakes. But it was too dense for these muffins and I decided they weren’t fluffy enough.
Muffins need to be fluffy, it’s just the rule.
So for the next bash at it, I used organic brown rice flour. This is pretty widely available in health food shops – I bought the Dove’s Farm brand from Health Matters on Grafton Street.
And that worked perfectly! It made them light yet crisp.
The other magic ingredient that I strongly recommend you use is coconut palm sugar. I’ve mentioned this before elsewhere on the site, because it makes a great low GI alternative to regular refined sugar. It also contains some essential minerals, so it’s not just empty calories. But thanks to its rich, butterscotch flavour, it made the muffins taste so good and they came out of the oven with that gorgeous golden-brown colour. I used the Biona Organic Coconut Palm Sugar from Nourish (€4.99).
Apart from that, the muffins are naturally sweetened with banana pieces and pure vanilla extract. Delish!
Making these muffins over the weekend? It makes me so happy to see all your creations on social media! Simply tag #RosannaDavisonNutrition on Instagram or Twitter or come on over to my Facebook to say hello 
- coconut oil, to grease
- 250ml (1 cup) unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 315g (2 cups) brown rice flour
- 21/2 tsp baking powder (ensure it's gluten-free)
- 1/4 tsp baking soda (ensure it's gluten-free)
- 100g (1/2 cup) coconut sugar
- 2 ripe bananas, chopped into small pieces plus 8 slices, to garnish
- 72g (1/3 cup) coconut oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Preheat the oven to 190C and lightly greased a muffin tray with coconut oil, or lay out 8 muffin cases.
- Place the almond milk in a small bowl or glass and add in the apple cider vinegar. Stir well and leave aside.
- in a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour and add the baking powder, baking soda and coconut sugar. Combine well.
- Melt the coconut oil and in a separate bowl, mix together the vanilla extract with the oil. Add in the almond milk/vinegar mixture (the milk should have curdled slightly).
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture in the large bowl and stir together until a thick dough forms.
- Gently fold in the chopped banana pieces and ensure they're evenly distributed.
- Divide the mixture into the muffin tin or cases, top each with a thin slice of banana and bake at 190C for 20-25 minutes, until the muffins turn golden-brown and the banana on top starts to caramelise.
- Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack for 10 minutes before serving.
- Store in an airtight container in a cool place for 2-3 days.