One of my favorite things to do is thumb through cookbooks and, while my collection isn’t large, each book is treasured for the adventures that it can bring. I flip through the books when I’m trying to decide on a grocery list or in between sips of coffee on a weekend morning, or when I am waiting for the oven timer to go off and am putting off washing all the dirty dishes I just made making something else. The inspiration for these muffins comes from Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods into Your Cooking which I got several years ago from my cousin Michael. The photographs are beautiful and the food all looks so tantalizing that I am surprised I didn’t come across this recipe sooner. Need to schedule in more cookbook time, for sure.
Nevertheless, this recipe showed up just in time because I was armed with ripe bananas, ready for the next cooking project. Most people make dishes with bananas because there is one too many close to their expiration dates. I’m just the opposite. I love using nanners in all kinds of things so I buy them in bulk and look for reasons to mix them in. Because I had to make the muffins grain-free, my adaptation is quite different than Heidi’s but hopefully the essence of the muffins remains.
Espresso Banana Muffins
Makes 12 regular sized muffins and 1 large one
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon stevia
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed (about 3)
1 tablespoon espresso powder (or 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules)
2 cups almond flour
4 tbsp coconut flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease or line muffin pan.
- Mix wet ingredients together with the bananas and espresso.
- Mix dry ingredients together.
- Combine wet and dry thoroughly and fold in half of the walnuts.
- Fill muffin pan and sprinkle remaining half of nuts on muffins.
- Bake for 18 minutes. Large muffins will take closer to 25 minutes.
The result is a really fragrant and moist muffin full of chunky pieces of banana and scented just so with coffee. So good!
Thanks, Miguel!
7 comments
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September 24, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Ryan Denner
Hey there!
We tried making these tonight, only we didn’t use the stevia. Unfortunately, they came out REALLY bitter. Would you have any idea why, and how we could prevent this in the future?
Thanks!
-Ryan
September 24, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Carrol
Oh man, Ryan, that’s a bummer! Could it be your espresso/coffee? Depending how strong or darkly roasted it is, it may make it bitter. I’ve made these a few times now, using both ground espresso and instant coffee granules, and I have to say I prefer the instant stuff. You can try that or reduce the amount of espresso. Also, increasing the maple syrup or including the stevia will help to balance the flavors. I hope you’ll let me know if you try them again.
September 26, 2010 at 4:17 pm
Ryan Denner
Ok, we did research…
Baking soda needs an acid to react with. In your recipe, stevia is an acid (even though it has an alkalizing effect on the body – very similar to vinegar). I also just dipped my finger in baking soda to try it, and sure enough – the tastes were the same! Research confirmed..
So, we used a little apple cider vinegar as an acid and they came out AMAZING!!!! Thanks for posting!
September 26, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Carrol
Thanks for letting me know – you are quite the kitchen sleuth! I usually do include ACV in my baked goods since I use baking soda & not baking powder. I guess that’s why they say baking is more of a science.
October 14, 2010 at 6:39 pm
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April 8, 2011 at 6:17 am
thedeliciousphilosphy
looks delish! and gluten free : ) yum.
April 11, 2011 at 3:02 pm
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