Banana Maple Pecan Bread Muffins (Gluten-Free)

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.

• Ready In: 35 mins
• Serves: 18
• Yields: 18 muffins

Ingredients

• 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.