We went through a season a couple years ago when it made sense for our son to be on a gluten free (GF) diet. Shout out to all the mamas out there that have had to live in the gluten free world… it can be overwhelming and HARD in the beginning. Luckily there are quite a few options out there now and several restaurants even that offer GF options. While that is nice, it was still quite a change from how we were living.

mini-muffin-pan-with-baked-chocolate-muffins

Going GF is HARD

I found actual meals weren’t too hard to make gluten free. Most of the meals we ate already were gluten free. The tricky area for me was snacks and treats. We have a birthday party to go to just about every month between friends and family and telling a three year old they can’t have that snack or treat that all the other kids are having was not my favorite. It was well worth it… but it was still very difficult.

finding a gF snack

It was during this time that I developed these gluten free double chocolate mini muffins. My kids will eat pretty much anything that is bite size. Add in chocolate and it’s a no brainer. At the time I was making these mini muffins every other week. Sometimes weekly. It was a snack that tasted like a treat and put a smile on my son’s face. Yay!

just a note

I will say that we had been gluten free, but also avoiding processed foods, seed oils, etc. for a while before I made this recipe. I’m not sure if he would have enjoyed these as much as he did if I had given them to him right at the beginning. Before we changed his diet, he was totally conditioned to eating highly palatable foods and it took several weeks before he started to eat whole foods. That’s a journey for another post, but I wanted to mention it because these muffins are made with almond and coconut flour that does not just melt in your mouth the way good old all purpose flour would. I personally love these mini muffins and probably consume more of them than my kids (Hi, my name is Kelly and if you haven’t met me, I love sugar), but it can be very different to your taste buds if you are not used to eating this way. If you’re unsure how they’ll go over, just add in some extra chocolate chips ;).

ingredients

Bananas. I’m a picky banana eater and often end up with very ripe bananas that no one in my house will consume. I throw them in the freezer and simply pull them out about a half hour or so before I want to bake.

Coconut oil or avocado oil.

Pure vanilla extract.

Eggs.

Honey.

Almond flour.

Coconut flour.

Cacao powder. Read the difference between cacao and cocoa powder here.

Baking soda.

Salt. We like to use Himalayan or Redmonds Real Salt.

Chocolate chips. Check the label to make sure they are gluten free. We like to buy the allergen free chocolate chips.

instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a mini muffin pan or use silicone mini muffin pans that do not need a liner.
Mash bananas in a large bowl. I like to use my hand mixer.
Add in melted coconut or avocado oil, vanilla, eggs, and honey. Mix to combine.
Add almond and coconut flours, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix to combine.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Using a small cookie scoop fill mini muffin pan with batter. You should have enough for two 24 muffin pans.
Bake at 350 degree F for about 20 minutes. In my house with my oven, 19 minutes is perfection.

green-hand-mixer-mixing-ingredients-in-mixing