For Christmas morning I wanted to make something special, which means a little more rich than what I'm used to! So I found this amazing recipe for gluten-free, dairy-free banana chocolaty muffins, that looked more like a dessert when I topped them with melted chocolate and a nut.
Without nuts inside and melted chocolate chips and a walnut on top
With walnuts inside and nutella chocolate spread and a pecan on top
Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
2 organic eggs
1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used low sodium, low sugar-organic is preferable)
1 ¾ cup gluten free all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda (aluminum free)
1/3 cup Spectrum shortening (melted...dairy free)
1/2 almond milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice (for dairy free option)
3/4 cup dairy free chocolate chips
Pecan nuts and walnuts (to top muffins and option to add in)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix first 4 ingredients in blender for about a 1 minute.
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. When thoroughly mixed, add to mixing bowl, along with the Spectrum shortening and almond milk. Blend well.
Add the chocolate chips and give it a good mix. Ladle the batter into muffin tins lined with papers, filling each paper to the top. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until the muffins are firm to the touch. Cool and serve. Top with melted chocolate chips, or nutella chocolate spread. I added chopped up walnuts to the second pan and topped both with chocolate and a nut. I topped the nut free batter ones with melted chocolate chips, and a pecan on top, then topped the nut filled ones with nutella chocolate spread and a pecan.
All ingredients (apart from the nuts that I decided on while the first batch was baking)
Melted chocolate chips for an added yummy topping
In the oven at 350 degrees F
After 17 minutes of baking they were perfect.
This first batch I made with no added nuts inside, and topped with melted chocolate chips and a walnut.
To differentiate the ones with added chopped walnuts, I topped those with pecans. These I also topped with nutella for an extra nutty boost.
They were delicious! Light and fluffy, super moist from the banana, and very rich in flavor, with the peanut butter, chocolate chips and nuts. Kept in an air tight container they stayed fresh for days and the chocolate on top didn't even dry out...unless left out in the air.
