Banana Maple Pecan Bread Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Andrew Mollmann's Note:

I bought a 20lb bag of bananas at Krogers for $1.00 and have been trying to use them all up. This is one of the recipes I made in the process. It was by far the most scrumptious recipe that I made. It could also be made into a bread, but I made muffins. This is definitely my new default banana bread recipe! Imade a double batch and ended up with 39 muffins. I made half with the called for maple syrup/pecan topping and half with a cream cheese topping. To make the cream cheese topping, I whipped 6oz cream cheese with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup maple syrup. These were absolutely heavenly fresh out of the oven. *For the gluten free flour, I used Bette Hagman's mix: 2 parts garfava bean flour, 1 part sorghum flour, 3 parts cornstarch, and 3 parts tapioca flour.

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 18

Yield: 18.0 muffins

Batter

• 3 ripe bananas, coarsely mashed
• 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 cups flour (*I used Bette Hagman's GF Bean mix, description above)
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons dry buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

Maple Pecan Topping

• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Cream Cheese Topping

• 6 ounces cream cheese (optional)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (optional)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine bananas with 1/3 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup pecans. Mix well and set aside.
2. Combine flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, salt, pumpkin pie spice, and dry buttermilk. Alternatively if you do not have premixed pumpkin pie mix, use equal parts cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Combine eggs, oil, and water. Pour into the center of the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon just until dry ingredients are incorporated.
4. Use a spatula or knife to make three or four "troughs" in the dough/batter. Spoon banana mixture into troughs. Gently fold bananas into dough with knife.
5. Spoon dough into muffin cups. Top with pecan-maple mixture. If using cream cheese frosting, coat tops of muffins after they are baked, not before.
6. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Makes about 18 good sized muffins.

Reviews

[the Magic Ingredient is...]

I am posting this to inform anyone else with Celiac about a fairly informative website http://www.toadhaven.com This site is a homeschooling family in VA and there are people in the family with gluten intolerance. There are lots of links to other sites about recipes/gluten free restaurant options and lots of other fun and educational sites for young people. I look forward to trying this yummy sounding recipe and will be back to add to this review.

[BadgerLuv]

Delicious!! I'd never know these muffins were gluten free if I didn't make them (and I'm the one in the house that DOES eat gluten). I used a flour mix that includes 3 parts cornstarch, 3 parts brown rice flour, 2 parts soy flour and 1 part masa harina. I only made the pecan/maple syrup topping, and it was incredible! Thanks! This one's definitely a keeper!

[Chef Kristan]

Awesome recipe!! It seems to be a very forgiving recipe, as well. I didn't have any powdered buttermilk or canola oil so I used olive oil instead and the muffins turned out great. I used vegan cream cheese for the frosting and it tasted sooo good. I ended up with 24 cupcakes so I gave some to a co-worker whose son is GF and she tried one which turned into two. I'll be making these again:) Thanks for sharing, Andrew!!