Banana Cardamom Muffins - GF
These healthy banana cardamom muffins taste indulgent and warming, have a beautiful soft delicate crumb and smell divine.
Sometimes when I am craving these muffins, I find myself watching the bananas sitting on the counter, waiting for them to go over. Come on let's face it, who puts perfectly edible bananas in baked treats? Banana bread was invented to use up overripe bananas that don’t get consumed on time. So even when I remind my son to eat the banana while it’s still in its prime, I find myself secretly hoping that he’ll opt for another fruit from the fruit basket. Does that make me a bad mother?
Usually I make these muffins with either sprouted spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour. But then the craving struck during early quarantine days when the whole country seemed to be out of flour, yeast and toilet paper (remember those days?); and that’s when the gluten free version came about. I don’t follow a GF diet but I have to say that these feel much lighter and I can happily devour 2 muffins for breakfast, with a large cup of masala chai.
What makes these muffins healthy?
Instead of flour, I’ve used a mix of chickpea flour, sorghum flour, arrowroot and oat flour. And in case you are wondering, yes, I had all these flours in my kitchen. :-) I use them in a variety of dishes that I’m looking forward to sharing with you.
I love chickpea flour. Also called gram flour or garbanzo bean flour, it is loaded with protein and dietary fiber and is a good source of iron. Although it has a slightly nutty and beany flavor which tastes fantastic in crepes, pakoras and curries; none of the beaniness can be tasted in the muffins.
Sorghum has a neutral, sometimes sweet flavor and is light colored, making it a perfect replacement for wheat flour in GF baking. It is high in fiber and antioxidants and adds a good dose of protein, iron and B vitamins to recipes.
Arrowroot is relatively flavorless and works as a binder and gives structure in this recipe. Arrowroot promotes digestive health, contains a good amount of potassium, iron and B vitamins, and is superior to other binding alternatives like potato starch, xanthan gum & tapioca starch.
Bananas, dates, maple syrup and raisins naturally sweeten the muffins.
The incredibly fragrant & warming cardamom is a mood relaxant and promotes digestive health. It is packed with macro & micro nutrients. It is also my comfort spice. Most Indian sweets that I grew up eating featured cardamom. You can call it the ‘vanilla’ of Indian desserts and I still tend to favor it over cinnamon in my holiday cooking/baking.
Coconut oil instead of butter. Although butter works great in here too. I just didn’t have any on hand.
GF Banana Cardamom Muffins
Ingredients:
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup arrowroot flour
1/4 cup oat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom powder
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
8 medjool dates seeded & soaked in 1/4 cup boiling water for 10 mins.
3 very ripe bananas
2 eggs OR 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
Handful of blueberries (optional)
1 tbsp rolled oats (optional)
1 tbsp raw cane sugar (optional)
Preparation:
Start by soaking the dates in ¼ cup of boiling water.
Toss the walnuts and raisins with 1 tsp sorghum flour and keep aside.
Pre heat the oven to 325°F / 165°C.
Grease a 12 muffin pan.
In a bowl combine chickpea flour, sorghum flour, arrowroot flour, oat flour, cardamom, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
To a blender or food processor, add the dates with the soaking water, eggs, bananas, coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract and blend well.
Fold the wet mix into the dry until just combined. Do not over mix.
Fold in the nuts and raisins.
Divide the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups.
Top each muffin with 5-6 blueberries and slightly push them down with a tooth-pick or chopstick. Or sprinkle rolled oats on the muffins followed by a sprinkle of raw sugar, if using.
Bake in the oven for 22-25 mins or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean
Cool in the tin for 10 mins before transferring onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Notes:
Replace all of the chickpea flour, sorghum flour, arrowroot & oat flour with 1¾ cup whole wheat OR all purpose OR spelt flour if not baking gluten free. You can also use a ready made all purpose gluten free flour blend like Bob’s Red Mill.
Butter or any other neutral oil can be used in place of coconut oil.
Get the kids cooking:
I don’t know a kid who isn’t excited by the idea of making and eating a delicious muffin. It may seem to have a long list of ingredients, but this recipe is fairly easy to make with kids. Older children can even make it by themselves.
Making healthy treats with kids presents a wonderful opportunity to talk about the choice of ingredients and how they are better for us. They learn to eat more mindfully and slowly start to realize that food that is good for us can also taste amazing.
Did you make this recipe? Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on instagram & tag it with the hashtag #nibblengobble.
