Banana-Apple Gluten-Free Muffins

It was late in the evening last week and I was craving something warm, baked, sweet, and fast. So I got out my 250 Best Muffin Recipes cookbook–a rarely used item on my cookbook shelf–and went to work.

I’ve been avoiding gluten when possible, so the flour got replaced with a gluten-free blend; I’ve been avoiding refined sugar, so that got replaced with molasses and xylitol; and I’ve been avoiding dairy, so I used mashed overripe bananas, puréed apple and a little oil instead. Then I added chopped apples just in case it wasn’t moist enough. Miracle of miracles, it actually worked.

Here’s my bastardized recipe:

Easy Banana-Apple Gluten-Free Muffins

1 1/2 cups mashed banana (2-3 depending on size, make sure they’re very ripe or they’ll be tough to mash and kind of starchy-tasting. You could also use 1 cup banana and 1 cored apple chopped in chunks)

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp xylitol (or regular sugar or brown sugar)

1 1/2 tsp molasses (approximately)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 flour (all-purpose or gluten-free blend: 2 cups brown rice flour, 1 cup sorghum flour, 1 cup tapioca starch, 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/4 cup sweet rice flour, 2 tsp guar gum)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 apple, cored and chopped or diced (optional but a very good idea. You could also do blueberries or cranberries)

Directions:

1. Combine the oil, banana, and apple (the one to be puréed, not the one to be diced and added at the end) in a blender or food processor and process well.

2. Add the xylitol, molasses, and egg and combine again. In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg (you should sift, but this is a quick recipe so don’t worry about it).

3. Pour out the contents of the blender or food processor into the bowl with the flour and stir until no flour is visible. Stir in the apple pieces (the diced ones).

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour batter into muffin liners or greased muffin tins.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the thickest part of the muffin comes out clean.

Makes about 12 big muffins, or more smaller muffins.