Gluten-Free & Grain-Free Banana Crumb Muffins

These muffins are delicious with a cup of coffee on a cool morning. In addition to them being gluten-free and grain-free, they are also low in sugar.

I’ve had a lot of fun converting my favorite recipes into wheat-free and lower-sugar versions. One of my favorites is Double Chocolate Almond Banana Muffins. You can probably tell I’m a little obsessed with banana bread and muffins. It’s one of my favorite foods. I talk about banana breads and muffins in my blog so much, I should just call this the “Banana Bread Blog” instead of “Delicious as it Looks!” So what do I have today? Another banana muffin recipe!

This is a conversion of an old favorite from allrecipes.com: Banana Crumb Muffins. I make these with almond flour and coconut palm sugar.  Coconut palm sugar is the hot new item the natural foods department. I’ve heard good things about it, the most important being that it is low on the glycemic index compared to other sugars (although I’m still looking for some reliable data on that). I’ve also heard that it is lower in fructose than other natural sweeteners such as agave and honey. Not being able to digest fructose that well, this is important to me! So I bought some and decided to incorporate it into my muffins. It turns out coconut palm sugar is perfect for the crumb topping. I found that it is a darker colored sugar, with kind of a caramel flavor, a little bit like brown sugar, only not as sweet and moist. It is supposed to be perfect for baking.

Just be aware that these muffins are probably not as sweet as the muffins you are used to eating. This is my way of allowing myself to eat one of my favorite foods, but without all of the sugar. I find that these muffins please my sweet tooth just fine. They are perfect with a cup of coffee on a cool morning.

Banana Crumb Muffins
Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Not Low-FODMAP*
makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

Muffins:
2 – 3 ripe bananas
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar or brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1/4 cup almond flour
3 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar or brown sugar
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners or lightly grease.
2. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, butter and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, sift together the almond flour, coconut palm sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
4. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and stir until thoroughly combined.
5. For the topping, mix the almond flour, coconut palm sugar, butter and cinnamon with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
6. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full with batter, evenly sprinkle with topping and bake 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.