The flavors in these Banana Muffins are just the same as a really good banana bread. My Mom made a great banana bread and those flavors are what I was trying to replicate.
The Basic Banana Bread recipe that I started with was from Cooking Light Magazine. CL’s recipe was for a non-gluten free bread but it did have ground flaxseed. I changed the all purpose flour to my usual Gluten Free Flour Mix and also ended up decreasing the sugar a lot.
If you don’t have issues with gluten, just use “regular” flour in place of the GF flour blend in my recipe.
CL’s banana bread had a powdered sugar icing that I changed to a light topping of brown sugar with cinnamon.
Since I’ve been making so many muffins lately I have found that Cooking Light Magazine has been a good source of recipe inspiration. I view Cooking Light as kind of a transitional magazine for people who are starting their journey to become more healthy. Some of their recipes are not as healthy as I would make them but they are a lot better than what many people are accustomed to.
I was very lucky to have been brought up eating healthy foods. I can only imagine how hard it would be to be told that recipes that your family has been eating for generations are unhealthy.
My friend’s sister who lives in Ohio was overwhelmed by the reality of having to drastically change her family’s eating habits after her husband had a heart attack. The sisters had grown up eating foods that were breaded and fried, as well as lots of breads and desserts. My friend changed her eating habits while in her 20′s but her sister didn’t until she had to for her husband.
My only other complaint about Cooking Light is how many prescription drug ads they print in their magazine every month. I understand that magazines need to sell a lot of ads to remain profitable or they will fail, especially in this internet era. This many drug ads seems to be a contradiction of the magazine’s intent to help people become more healthy in a natural way. There are just so many prescription drugs that are pushed by drug companies on Drs. and patients that simply cover up symptoms that should be addressed with lifestyle changes, not pills.
This Banana Muffin recipe makes 39 mini sized muffins.
I shared this recipe with Sweets For A Saturday at Sweet As Sugar Cookies, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, The Hearth and Soul Hop at 21st Century Housewife, Allergy Free Wednesdays at Gluten Free Pantry, Real Food Wednesday at Kelly The Kitchen Kop, Whole Foods Wednesday at This Chick Cooks, Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet, April Blog Hop at Recipe Lion
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line 4 mini muffin tins with paper liners. This recipe makes 39 mini muffins.
Mix dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside
1 and 1/2 cups GF Flour Mix*
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
Beat wet ingredients together with a mixer in a large bowl
1 and 1/4 cups mashed ripe banana
1/3 cup plain fat-free yogurt or light sour cream
5 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Add flour mixture to banana mixture, stir together until just blended.
Spoon batter into prepared mini muffin pans.
Make topping and sprinkle on muffin batter:
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Bake at 350 degrees for a total of about 22 minutes, switching pans from the top rack of your oven to the bottom midway through the baking time.
Gluten Free Flour Mixture*
The GF flour mixture that I use is pretty standard. I use Authentic Foods gluten free flours because they are ground more finely than commercial brand GF flours that you can buy off the shelf. This results in wonderful baked goods that do not have that “gritty” feel when you chew them like so many products that we all tried in the beginning!
GF Flour Mixture
2 cups AF Superfine Brown Rice Flour (available in the amazon.com store on my blog)
2/3 cup AF Potato Starch Flour (available in my store)
1/3 cup AF Tapioca Flour (available in my store)
I make up several batches of this mixture at a time and keep it in a canister. I keep all of my other GF flours in the freezer.
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This recipe looks great! I would love it if you linked up this post to my blog hop for a chance to win a cookbook prize package: http://ow.ly/aj76a
I can appreciate what you are saying about drug ads. They are not allowed over here in the UK, and I’m always surprised when I see so many of them in US magazines! Your recipe looks wonderful and your muffins sound delicious. I like all the spices you have used, and the lovely topping too.
Thank you April!
Thanks for linking up this recipe to my hop this month!
Thanks for the invite Matt!
My pleasure Matt!
Thanks for linking up to Allergy-Free Wednesdays. Hope to see you again tomorrow.
Thank you Adrienne! I’ll be there!