I like to lovingly refer to our household as “The Bubble”.  My husband is allergic to all poultry and egg yolk except when it is in baked goods.  My daughter is lactose intolerant and I have gluten and lactose intolerance.  So, meal planning and preparation is ALWAYS an adventure.

Since I am the one who mainly does the grocery shopping, meal planning and prep, I try to make my life as simple as possible and stick with foods you find in their natural state.  When we do need food items that are not naturally grown, I look for the least processed foods and try my hardest to stay away from gluten containing products.   So, it was in this vain that I found myself searching for some healthy snack and breakfast options.  In my quest, I stumbled across “Cooking for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet” by Erica Kerwien.  This book contains recipes that are sugar-free, gluten-free and grain-free.  I was stoked!!!

Since I have been sick the past few days I haven’t had the energy to cook or bake much.  However, my new cookbook was laying on the kitchen counter anticipating my return.  Yesterday, I had enough energy to use the Banana Bread recipe as a template for MY modified Gluten-Free Banana/Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Muffins are much more enjoyable to my young children than a loaf of bread.

The recipe in the book called for olive oil so I chose to use a Blood Orange Olive Oil that I purchased at my local specialty olive oil and balsamic vinegar store, Con’ Olio.  I knew this olive oil would give a nice citrus essence to the muffin.  I also added a handful of good quality dark chocolate chips and white chocolate chips to the batter since I knew my children would enjoy the surprise.

Gluten Free Banana/Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

2 tablespoons olive oil or any other type of cooking oil (I used blood orange olive oil)

3 eggs

2 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup honey (I used a local honey, Round Rock Honey)

Handful of white chocolate/dark chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat Oven to 350°F/175°C.  Line muffin pan with paper liners or grease pan.
2. Using a whisk (fork is a good stand in), blend “dry” ingredients (baking soda, salt and flours) in a medium mixing bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, mix “wet” ingredients together (oil, eggs, mashed bananas, and honey).  Add the combined “wet” ingredients to the “dry” ingredients.  To make sure the batter is thoroughly blended, use an electric mixture.
   

   Combined Ingredients

4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup or a small ice cream scooper,  fill muffin cups to 1/2 to 2/3 full.  This recipe was enough to fill 10 cups of my muffin pan.  I filled the other 2 cups with water measured to the same level so that the muffins would evenly brown in the oven.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until sides and top are browned and toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffins comes out clean.
   

   fresh from the oven

7. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.
   

   Cooling

8. To store, cover and refrigerate for up to a week (if they last that long) or freeze for up to a month

These muffins are great warmed up and topped with a little coconut butter, real butter, almond butter or even a drizzle of olive oil.  Serve with a warm cup of hot chocolate, tea or coffee and a side of fruit.  

My children loved them as their after school snack and again for breakfast this morning.

Enjoy!

~Marci