Say goodbye to those dry, bland tasting gluten free muffins at the grocery store. These Banana Date Muffins are incredibly moist and hearty, a real stick to your ribs breakfast!
Dates are wonderful for baking, and they give a natural sweetness to these muffins, not to mention a fiber boost. I also added a little brown sugar substitute to the mix, but you can omit this or use real brown sugar.
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Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients
- 2 cups dried pitted dates [1]
- 1-1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 1 ripe banana
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar or brown sugar substitute [2] (optional)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract [3]
Dry Ingredients
280g. Better Batter all-purpose gluten free flour blend [4] (use my Code MGFC30 at checkout for 30% off!)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
Other
- cooking spray
- 1 tbsp. butter for brushing
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 400º. Mist a 12-cup nonstick muffin pan [5] with cooking spray or use paper liners.
Boil water and add the dates. Cover and remove from heat, then let them soak for 15 minutes.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan [6].
Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining wet ingredients (eggs, mashed banana, honey, vanilla and brown sugar).
Pour the soaked dates and their water into a blender, food processor or electric chopper. Puree into a paste, do it in 2 batches if needed.
Combine the pureed dates with the melted butter and cool 10 minutes.
Next combine the date mixture with the other wet ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together with a dough whisk [7] just until moistened.
Fill the 12 muffin cups, level to the rim.
For nice, rounded domes, smooth the tops of the muffins with a small spatula.
Bake for 20-22 minutes. Check that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Melt the remaining tbsp. of butter, and brush over the tops of the muffins. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
Remove the muffins and serve warm, or cool on a rack to freeze.
Thaw frozen muffins in the refrigerator. To reheat microwave for 1 minute.
Notes ♪♫ I used Better Batter Original All Purpose Flour Blend [4] in this recipe (be sure to use my code MGFC30 at checkout for 30% off your non-sale purchase) [8]. If you are using a different flour blend that does not contain xanthan gum, I recommend adding 1/2 tsp. to the dry ingredients.