Easy Baking – Banana Bread **or apple crumble** Muffins

I am all for baking! I absolutely love baking… and, let’s be honest, eating my baking. But I no longer have any desire for high-sugar, wheat-filled, inflammatory and unhealthy muffins and cakes! No thank you! Gluten-free whole-food healthy baking and treats for us now.

sugar-free sweet banana muffins

Sugar free is healthier

My intolerances led me to gluten-free baking, but it’s my desire for a healthier lifestyle that has kept me creating new and healthier treats. There is really no need to eat a lot of processed sugar, and we all know it’s not healthy. The less sugar you eat, the healthier you’ll be.

apple crumble alternative

Fruit adds sweetness and goodness

Fruit has the benefit of being the whole package – fibre, vitamins and minerals, in a perfectly sweet package. This allows the slow release of energy over time, keeping us fuller for longer, and without spikes and troughs in our blood sugar (which can lead to disease over time). Using bananas for sweetness is a perfect way to get a tasty treat without added sugar, and some B vitamins for energy, to boot! **And now, a new apple quinoa crumble version below!

Intolerance friendly too

Sometimes it’s essential that you avoid foods, and by making your own, you save time reading ingredients lists (and inevitably being disappointed!). It’s easy to find recipes that cater to just one or two intolerances, but how many really cut it for people with multiple food sensitivities? There is nothing wrong with egg… except if it causes you to react. Same with almond meal – perfectly healthy to most, but high in salicylates, so really bad for others.

healthy whole food ingredients

Whole food ingredients

So, with my family and yours in mind, here are my super easy, intolerance-friendly banana muffins, with plenty of variations. Only 7 ingredients, they are low-medium salicylates and amines, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, grain-free/paleo (although I don’t think cavemen ate banana bread!) and sugar-free (because they don’t need it, they’re sweet enough without!). They’re also nut free, unless you use almond milk, like me.

Banana bread muffins (or apple crumble muffins)

Free from gluten, dairy, sugar, soy and egg

Makes one banana bread loaf or 12 muffins

Ingredients

4 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed (they don’t have to be overly ripe, just soft is fine)

** or replace bananas with 1 cup stewed apple (approx 2 medium apples) **

1/2 cup olive oil (or rice bran oil, if highly sensitive to salicylates)

3/4 cup milk of choice (I use almond, but soy or rice milk are fine too)

2 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

2 cups gluten free flour (I use 1 1/2 cups buckwheat to 1/2 cup tapioca; you can use 1/2 cup almond meal with 1 cup buckwheat, but add 5 mins to the cooking time)

1 tsp baking soda (break up lumps and mix in well to flour)

1 tsp salt (seems like a lot, but this is what makes them so good)

** for apple muffins, make gluten free quinoa crumble mixture **

Method

my expert banana masher (and taster)

Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease a bread tin or fill 12 muffin holes with paper muffin cases.

If making ** apple muffins ** stew the apples and make the quinoa crumble.

Mash bananas (or whiz up stewed apples to a purée), mix with oil, milk and vanilla. Stir flour and baking soda together. Fold wet and dry ingredients together gently. Done!

For ** apple muffins ** add 1 tbsp quinoa crumble to top of each muffin and push down gently.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 60 minutes for bread, or 25 minutes for muffins, or until golden brown and skewer comes out just clean from the middle.

Makes one loaf or 10-12 muffins (depending on the size of your bananas).

Serve plain or with raw honey and cinnamon. If dairy is ok for you, lashings of grass-fed butter.