Soft and squishy muffins that you’d never even be able to tell are gluten-free? Sign me up!
This recipe is dairy-free because it calls for shortening instead of butter. I found a great article on HealthLine about shortenings and their scientific properties, the different kinds of shortenings, and I even learned that the Federal Drug Administration is requiring companies to phase out trans fats in their products by mid-2018. Trans fats are one of the reasons that shortening was considered “bad” over the years. I have been using the Spectrum shortening in my recipes (I found it at Target) and it works just as well as Crisco.
Let’s move on to bananas. When I have bananas that are close to being past their prime, I throw them in the freezer. Open the freezer a couple days later and you’ll suddenly see dark brown bananas in there. These bananas are ideal for banana bread, because when they ripen they become sweeter. I am sure that many of you have also done this same thing in the past.
If you’re using frozen bananas, I recommend placing them in a bowl on the counter to thaw. Or, you can pop them in the microwave for a couple minutes to speed up the defrosting. I will say this though…if you put them in the microwave and they get too warm, then they might not blend as well as you’d like with the shortening/sugar mixture. That’s Ok. It will still work, but your batter might be a little clumpy and the muffins may be more dense than we’d like.
Also, another important thing to note on these. The recipe calls for 2 cups of sifted flour and that means to sift it first and and then measure it. I take my flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour is the one that I use) and sift it into another bowl, then measure it from there. Remember that when baking measurements need to be precise or your product may not turn out! It’s very scientific!
Gluten-Free Banana Bread Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 Ripe bananas
- 2 Eggs - well-beaten
- ½ cup Shortening
- 1 cup Granulated sugar
- 2 cups Sifted flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- ½ cup Walnuts, or other mix-in - optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy.
- Add in bananas and mix well.
- Add in eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly.
- In separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add to the wet ingredients. Mix a couple of minutes until everything is incorporated.
- Fold in any optional mix-ins like blueberries, nuts, or chocolate chips.
- Pour into muffin liners.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
TIPS:
*This recipe fills a 12 cup muffin tin perfectly. I have found that these cupcake liners work the best for everything and nothing sticks to them! The large ones are the size that fit in a standard muffin tin.
*Another extra special tip that I’m sharing with you is to sprinkle the top of the muffin batter with sugar before baking. This will give them an extra crunchy, sugary top when they come out of the oven!
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