Mary with Garden: Vegan Gluten-Free Banana Muffins (and bonus! Fat-Free!!)

Stack them up! You can't eat just one, these are so yummy!

Oh I do love these muffins! If you have been looking for a gluten free muffin that is not gritty, look no more!!! Yeah ! I have to say these are the most delicious muffins. I bake for gluten intolerant folks, but I do not have gluten issues. These muffins satisfy all of us here.

Banana Muffins 18 muffins

Dry Ingredients

2 ½ cups oat flour ( Look below for tip)

1 cup ground raw, unsalted sunflower seeds (Don't panic! Read on.)

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ to ¾ cup light brown sugar or Sucanat

½ teaspoon salt

Optional: ¼ - ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Wet Ingredients

4 flax eggs (4 T ground flax seeds mixed with ⅔ cup water)

⅓ cup soy or almond milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups sliced ripe bananas, mashed (Roughly, 4 bananas BUT MEASURE!)

Optional: 1 ½ cup berries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grind golden flax seeds to make 4 T. dry Coffee grinder does this well.

Golden Flax seeds before and after grinding

Measure 4 T. ground golden flax seeds into a small bowl and add ⅔ cup of water. Whisk together until well blended. Set aside.

Using blender, grind rolled oats or steel cut oats to make flour. Measure 2 ½ cups into a large bowl.

Note: You can use old-fashioned or instant rolled oats, steel cut oats, oat groats here as long as you get a light, powdery flour. If you blend in small batches your success will be greater.

Oat flour made from grinding oat groats in blender. I have used old-fashioned oatmeal, steel cut oats as well as the oat groats and have had success with each.

In blender, grind raw, unsalted sunflower seeds until powdery. Do in small batches. Measure 1 cup and add to oat flour in bowl.

Note: If you wish you can substitute ground almonds (almond flour) for the sunflower seeds. You can also increase the amount to 1 ½ cup and reduce the oat flour to 2 cups if using almond flour since it is lighter than sunflower seed flour.

Sunflower seeds before and after grinding. Measure 1 cup of ground seed flour.

Add sugar (I use sucanat.) salt, baking powder, and nutmeg, if using. Whisk together well. Set aside.

Note: If you like a sweeter muffin add ¾ cup of sugar instead of ½ cup. If you want to substitute honey, you can use less than ½ cup as honey is much sweeter than sugar. Sucanat is dehydrated, organic cane juice that tastes like light brown sugar.

Sucanat

The flax eggs should be emulsified by this time. Here's what you want it to look like:

Flax eggs should cling to whisk and slowly fall back into bowl when ready.

Add ⅓ cup soy or almond milk to flax eggs. Whisk to blend. Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla and blend.
Cut ripe banana into pieces and measure 2 lightly packed cups. Mash well with fork and add to the wet ingredients, blending well.

First measure the banana slices. Then mash.

Add mashed bananas to wet ingredients and blend well.

Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.

Wet ingredients added to the dry ones.

Fold the dry ingredients over the wet. Continue folding until well incorporated. You will have a batter that holds together in one mass.

Muffin batter will hold together.

Fold in 1 ½ cups of blueberries, strawberries, cranberries if you would want that addition.
Using non-stick muffin pans, put 3 Tablespoons of batter into each cup. I do not grease my muffin tins to eliminate use of oil. Smooth the surface of the batter in each muffin cup with a spatula.

Smooth the tops or the muffins will bake lumpy.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and there is a little browning on the muffin.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Let cool 5 minutes and then loosen the sides with a knife and gently lift from pan. You can cool or eat warm from the oven.

Texture should be moist, but not gooey.

Vegan Gluten-Free Banana Muffins 18 muffins