Gluten Free Banana Muffins

🍌 Why We Love This Recipe

• Gluten free and vegan: It's hard to find muffins that are both dairy and gluten free, but still have the taste and texture of regular muffins. We think these muffins pull it off, so look no further!
• Great texture: We fold in walnuts and chocolate chips into the batter, and top with a walnut and brown sugar "streusel", giving these muffins a great crunch with a tender, soft interior.
• Good way to use up those ugly overripe bananas: If you've got bananas that are too soft or mushy for your liking, this recipe is a great way to make use of them! The bananas are mashed in this recipe, so you don't need to worry about using a perfectly ripe banana.
• On-the-go breakfast or snack: I like to make an extra batch of these vegan and gluten free banana muffins and store them in the freezer. When I need a quick bite, I just heat one up for about 30 seconds in the microwave. Easy and delicious!

🌰 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make these gluten free banana muffins:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour: Let's face it – gluten free baking is tough. Without gluten, baked goods can lack body and structure, becoming dry and crumbly. There are ways to overcome this problem, like adding xanthan gum or flax eggs, but this takes extra time or requires another run to the grocery store for a special ingredient. Lucky for us, Bob's Red Mill solved this problem with their 1-to-1 baking flour. It's a mixture of flours, starches, and xanthan gum, which makes it super easy to transform traditional cookies, cakes, brownies, muffins and pancakes into amazing gluten free creations! We use it in pretty much every single one of our recipes, so we've found that it works well across the board.
  • You can purchase Bob's Red Mill products at thousands of stores across the country, or order online for easy and convenient delivery. Now's a good time to stock up in preparation for holiday baking!
  • One more thing: this flour is not recommended for recipes that that use yeast. If you're baking yeasted breads or something like a cinnamon roll, opt for Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour.
• Walnuts: We used raw, unsalted walnuts in this recipe. Feel free to sub with another nut of choice, like pecans. You can also leave them out if you have any nut allergies in the family.
• Mini chocolate chips: We think that the smaller chocolate chips make more sense in a small baked good like a muffin, but regular sized ones will also work fine.
• Nondairy milk and butter: We used dairy free milk and butter in these gluten free banana muffins, but you can substitute for regular dairy if you're not vegan.
• Bananas: bananas add flavor and act as a binder in these muffins, so they're a great replacement for eggs, keeping these muffins fully vegan. Just like you would for banana bread, opt for super ripe bananas in this recipe.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

Prep: Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C. Fill two muffin tins with liners.

(1 & 2): Mix together the brown sugar walnut topping ingredients with a spoon and set aside.

(3): In a large mixing bowl, stir together gluten free flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

(4): In a separate bowl or stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

(5): Mash bananas with a fork.

(6): Add mashed bananas and the vanilla extract to cream and sugar mixture and continue mixing.

(7): Combine lemon juice and milk. Alternate adding portions of the milk mixture (wet ingredients) and the flour mixture (dry ingredients) to the mashed banana mixture until batter is fully mixed.

(8): Stir in chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips with spatula.

(9): Fill each muffin tin almost to the top (since these are gluten free, they won't rise as much as regular muffins).

(10): Top with the brown sugar walnut mixture, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Let cool slightly before enjoying!

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Make sure the butter is softened: Leave your butter at room temp for 30 minutes before creaming the butter and sugar together. You can also pop it in the microwave for a few seconds at a time, checking frequently, until it's soft.
• Use liners: You can opt to grease the muffin tin instead of using liners, but we find that the muffins can still stick even with a greased tin, so the liners just make life easier.
• Add-ins: feel free to add in any nut or seed of your choosing. These would also be great with some blueberries folded in instead of chocolate chips. You can also add in some other spices – pumpkin spice would be great here!
• Storage: store leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature or in the refrigerator. Be sure to let the muffins cool completely before storing.
• Freezer storage: for long term storage, store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3-6 months. (As long as there's no freezer burn, they're fine to eat!) Reheat in the microwave for 30 seconds, until warmed through.
• Adapt for mini muffins: if using a mini muffin tin, start checking the muffins for doneness between 10-15 minutes.

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