Coconut Kissed, Gluten-free Banana Nut Muffins

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These are not your average morning breakfast muffins – more like a super indulgent afternoon treat for that special someone on their special day. Scratch that! Why not bake these for yourself the next time you want to make something extraordinary out of the ordinary?

What I love most about these is the way they dress up. First I make a cinnamon streusel, which on its own is might tasty, but then in combination with the drizzle of the coconut glaze, boom! You’ll be hard-pressed to find an equally dynamic combination, even in the gluten-full category.

I first made these muffins in July of 2020 (during COVID lockdown) after a baking stint developing my gluten-free Banana Nut Sourdough Coffee Cake recipe. We were totally blown away by the significant difference in texture these had in comparison.

While the coffee cake is light and delicate, this muffin is just as moist, if not moister, but considerably more spongey. Not having a culinary background in my pocket, all I can do is attribute it to the whipping of the eggs the way I do when I start off the wet mixture, that, and the balance of ingredients.

In terms of the coconut glaze, that came as a recent addition. My family and I love the flavors of Australia and New Zealand and try to borrow from their extra flavorful palette whenever we can. So for us, what else goes with banana better than a kiss of coconut?

Feel free to enjoy these au naturel or jazz them up with glaze and toasted coconut flakes!

Would you just look at those nuts? So I upped the walnuts in this because, well, I love crunch. But in this case, it really works. If you don’t over-mash the bananas and roast the walnuts beforehand, you’re in for a delightful texture odyssey.

PLEASE NOTE: While this recipe was originally developed in California, I’ve tested it in Boulder, Colorado, at 5, 328 ft above sea level. So please take this into consideration when reading through the recipe. You may find you’ll need to tweak this to make it your own.

I’ll update the recipe when I return in the Fall. In the meantime, to adapt it for sea-level :

  • Modify the Dry Mixture by using the following: 2 teaspoons each of the sea-salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
  • Keep the same baking temperature, just be sure to watch the timing. It could take a little longer (or shorter). Hard to say since these beauties are so moist!

I hope you enjoy these and let me know what you think!

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High-Altitude, Coconut Kissed, Gluten-free Banana Nut Muffins

Author Ali Ivmark
Beware! These muffins are more like a wholesome dessert than a breakfast treat.
Servings 24 Generous-sized Standard Muffins
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • 2 12-cup standard muffin pans or 2 6-cup jumbo muffin pans or one of each
  • Electric hand mixer (recommend Kitchen stand mixer)
  • Spatula
  • Mixing Bowls
  • Measuring Cups & Spoons
  • Cake Tester
  • Kitchen Scale

Ingredients

Cinnamon & Sugar Streusel Topping

Dry Ingredients

Wet Mixture

Coconut Kissed Glaze (Optional)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F / 176 C
  • Line 2 12-cup standard muffin pans with muffin liners or grease with unsalted butter
  • Roast the raw walnuts on low-medium heat until they are a little darker and crispy
    Roast Walnuts

Step 1: Streusel Topping

  • In a small to medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, tapioca starch, oats, sugars, cinnamon, and salt.
  • Add walnut oil and butter, then mash the mixture together with a fork until the butter is evenly incorporated and looks clumpy, like smashed peas.
  • Set aside in the refrigerator until you need to use it.
    Streusel Ready for Refrigerator

Step 2: Dry Mix

  • In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, tapioca starch, oats, sugars, salt, baking soda, and baking powder until well combined.
  • Toss in the chopped walnuts and mix until evenly incorporated.

Step 3: Wet Mix

  • In a separate, larger bowl (or KitchenAid bowl), beat (or whisk) the eggs and granulated sugar on high for about 5-7 minutes. The mixture will be fluffier and pale. When the whisk is lifted out of the bowl, the mixture makes lovely "ribbons" or trails.
  • Add the walnut oil and buttermilk and gradually increase to high so as not to splatter everywhere. Mix on high for 1-2 minutes.
    Eggs and sugar are pale, thick and fluffy
  • Now peel, measure and mash the bananas, in a separate bowl. You can use a fork or fingers, just don't mash it up too much. Add to the wet mix, and mix briefly on high until it is well incorporated.
    Mashed banana

Step 4: Combine Mixes

  • Tip! Be careful not to over mix the dry ingredients into the wet mix. (You don't want to lose all the air you got from whisking those eggs!)
  • Gradually (I like to add the dry mix in 3 rounds) and gently add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Ideally, it should be more like a folding motion rather than a mixing or stirring one.
    Gradually fold in the dry mix
  • It's better to have a little dry mix still lumpy than to over mix.
    Both mixes evenly combined

Step 5: Scoop & Streusel It

  • I like to use a medium-sized ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into the muffin liners. I'll add a scoop to all the cups, and then add then try to add evenly across all of them with the remaining batter.
  • Get the streusel out of the refrigerator and break it up with a fork, back into those pea-sized lumps.
  • Spread a little of the topping all over all of the cups, then I go back over to make sure to get it up to the edges. Every loose crumb is worth scooching into a cup!

Step 6: Bake

  • Make sure the oven has been at desired temperature for at least a half-hour before baking.
  • Place both of the pans in the middle of the oven.
  • Bake for approximately 27 minutes (25-28). It's easy to over bake these. Don't forget, they'll keep baking in the pans a little when they come out of the oven. I know they're ready by the look of the edges of the muffins, they'll turn a yummy reddish-golden brown.
    Muffins have reddish-golden brown edges
  • You'll definitely know they're ready when you poke a toothpick or cake tester into the middle of the middle muffin and it comes out clean.
  • Cool for 10 minutes before glazing or serving.
    Let cool for 10 minutes

Optional: Glazing

  • Add the cocount milk and coconut oil to a small bowl or pan.
  • Heat it up just enough to melt the oil, but not too hot. I use a microwave to heat up for 30 seconds.
  • Crumble in some toasted coconut if you have some, it adds a lovely and surprising extra crunch!
    Glaze with cocount milk, coconut oil and toasted coconut flakes
  • Add the light brown sugar and whisk together until it turns a nice golden color.
    Nice golden color on the glaze
  • Add the wet mixture to the powdered sugar and mix until it gets to a nice consistency. I like it on the thicker side as I find it is still quite runny when warm.
  • Drizzle over your muffins and serve!
Author: Ali Ivmark
Calories: 306kcal
Course: Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Snacks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Bakery, Bakery-style, Banana, Easy, Gluten-Free, Muffins
Diet: Gluten-Free

Nutrition

Serving: 1Muffin | Calories: 306kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 208mg | Potassium: 167mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 146IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 2mg
Ivmarks in Whitehaven, Australia

Hello there!

I’m Ali, the creator of C&C, and I love food.

Unfortunately, not all food loves me back as I’m gluten-intolerant. That is why I’m sharing all of our family’s favorite, go-to recipes as well as the new ones we keep dreaming up, so that you can enjoy gluten-free food as much as we do together!

If you make this recipe, please tag it @crunch_crumb on Instagram so we can all find out how you liked it!

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