Grain Free Banana Muffins

Yikes! It is hot and humid. Seriously, last week it was rainy and the mercury barely rose above 60˚. Gotta love MN weather!

I wasn’t quite sure how my pregnant body would tolerate the heat and humidity of Minnesota summers, but so far, so good. Matthew and I are both warm blooded and like to sweat, but surprisingly, it doesn’t bother either of us if the air conditioning is off, the fans are on, the windows are open and we are sweatin’ away the day together. I love that little boy!

Despite the heat, I fired up the lower (smaller) oven on my new Electrolux range to make a batch of banana muffins for my little guy (and me) to snack on this week.

Due to my lack of desire to meal plan and therefore have to grocery shop, the fridge is running dangerously low on fresh food. We have a plethora of frozen fruits and veggies along with overripe bananas, meat, tofu, dairy and grains; so we will be fine until I get the motivation to stop gardening and enjoying the outdoors in favor of meal planning and grocery list making – all in due time. It just means that Allan’s lunchbox has been filled with an unusual assortment of pantry staples, including Train Track Trail Mix, a double chocolate version of my Peanut Butter Fudge Bites and Chocolate Protein Bars – he will survive.

Oooohhh! Speaking of pantry staples, I completely forgot that I have all of the ingredients to make an even skinnier, higher protein version of my Clean Candy Bars, a recipe that I have had swirling in my brain for almost a year! Hmmm… the oven may be turned on tonight, as well.

Back to the banana muffins…

In order to turn the dangerously overripe bananas into something edible, I made a couple changes to Elana’s Paleo Banana Bread and decided to cut the cooking time (aka who’d-like-it-to-get-really-steamy-up-in-here) by making mini banana muffins instead of a loaf of bread. The recipe ended up making one pan of 24 mini muffins + 6 regular sized muffins, which is perfect for mama portion control: 6 muffins for me and the rest of my little love.

Matthew sat at the counter with his cooking supplies and helped me whip up this very easy batter. He was so excited about it that he kept asking me to put a taste of the batter into his mouth. I did oblige him once, but from then-on the begging intensified.

He then started asking me to take the muffins out of the oven before they were finished baking. Once the muffins were finished baking, he wanted to eat one that was super hot. I told him that they needed to cool down, but he insisted. So, I gave in again. However, I recommend waiting at least an hour, or until the muffins are completely cooled, to remove them from the paper liners, otherwise half of your muffin will still be stuck to the paper.

Grain Free Banana Muffins adapted from Paleo Banana Bread
These grain-free, gluten-free, unsweetened/fruit-sweetened muffins are the perfect high-protein afternoon treat or breakfast. Wonderful slathered with grass-fed butter, coconut oil or simply popped into your mouth.

Print this recipe.

Yields 24 mini muffins and 6 regular-sized muffins

3 very ripe bananas, cut into thirds
2 extra large farm fresh eggs (or 3 large eggs)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup organic extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil
2 cups blanched almond flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a mini muffin pan along with 6 regular muffins with paper liners, lightly mist paper liners with clean cooking spray (or EVOO in a Misto).

In the bowl of a food processor, combine bananas, eggs, vanilla and coconut oil. Pulse until liquified, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Add remaining ingredients (almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and sea salt) to food processor and pulse until combined.

Spoon batter by the heaping tablespoon into the prepared mini muffin tin and by the 1/4 cup into the regular-sized muffin tin.

Bake mini muffins for 15-20 minutes and regular sized muffins for 23-28 minutes.

Allow to cool in muffin tins for at least 1 hour.