Banana, almond and seed muffins

As you will see from my recipes, I fluctuate between healthy and indulgent foods. It’s my way of being balanced (a term I seldom attach to myself!). This is a great example of the type of thing I love to make when I am feeling more a need for the former rather than the latter. These little muffins are packed with bananas, good fats, seeds and only a little sugar in the form of maple syrup. The kids really like them, which is the main thing. They are also gluten free, as I had some GF flour to use up. You could use spelt, buckwheat, or wholemeal flour instead to keep them nice and healthy.

I like to eat them straight out the oven or warm them up then cut a crisis cross in the middle and pop a small knob of salted butter in. The saltiness works so well against the nutty flavour. These are so filling and perfect for after school. Hell, I’d be perfectly fine about giving these to the kids for breakfast. What about making a batch and keeping them in the freezer, then defrost a few the night before and take them out and about with you as a snack? These are ideal for weaning – as long as there is no history of nut allergy in the family.

I was going through my cupboards and just chucked a load of the seeds I had in and it seemed to work. But feel free to exchange these seeds for other ones: chia would work well.

Makes: 24 small muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients: 
2 bananas, mashed
2 eggs
100ml olive oil
75ml maple syrup
Tablespoon almond butter
150g gluten free flour
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
50g flax seed, ground
75g ground almonds (I did mine myself with skins on but you could use shop bought – either is fine)
25g sesame seeds
25g linseeds
Splash almond milk

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Pop little paper cases into the holes of a fairy cake tin – or muffin cases into a muffin tin.
2. Mix the wet ingredients: bananas, eggs, oil, maple syrup, almond butter.
3. Mix the dry: flour, salt, baking powder, ground almonds, seeds.
4. Incorporate wet into dry. Don’t overmix.
5. Blob a tablespoon of mixture into the paper cases. Bake for 15-20 mins. Eat warm and freeze the rest. They’ll last a couple of days otherwise in a tin.
6. If using muffin cases, which are larger, then cook for 25 mins.