Ohhhhhhhh my goodness guys. These Gluten Free Double Chocolate Banana Muffins are somethin’ else. They are so gosh darn fudgey, moist, soft, rich, fluffy and like an explosion of amazing-chocolate-banana-yumminess in yo’ mouth.
And the perfect way to celebrate my 24th birthday today! I actually forgot how old I was turning a couple of days ago, I somehow convinced myself that I was celebrating my 25th this year, ha! #GetYourHeadOutOfTheCloudsGIRL
We don’t have too much planned around here for my birthday because I’m still smack dab in the middle of my final exams but I’m taking my birthday night off to celebrate. J is taking me out to a lovely, local vegan restaurant we’ve been meaning to try since we moved here a couple of years ago. They even have some vegan seafood on the menu we are itching to try, how cool is that?!
Anyways, what better way to celebrate my birthday than with my two favorite things – banana and chocolate! Y’all know that I am a banana bread connoisseur over here on Ceara’s Kitchen! 😉 If it were only up to me, I’d probably post a new banana bread recipe every week to share with you guys but you’d probably get tired of only seeing ‘nana bread recipes on here, ha! I mentioned on Facebook and Instagram that I have TWO more banana bread recipes coming up soon so stay tuned! #BananaBreadObsessed
What makes these Gluten Free Double Chocolate Banana Muffins sooo special, soft, moist and fudgey? The trick is in the ingredients, friends. Let me break it down for you here:
Tapioca Starch: Now don’t go running just yet. I had nooooo idea what tapioca starch really even was until I made these Double Chocolate Muffins from my girl Brandi over at The Vegan 8. I was seriously blown away by the results, the tapioca starch makes them soooo incredibly fluffy! I’ve baked with corn starch before (in my Chocolate Chip Cookies) and baked with a bit of tapioca starch in my Chocolate Chip Blondies but usually stick to a mixture of almond and oat flours when whipping up gluten free baked goods. I wanted these muffins “fluffier” like my wheat based baked goods and the tapioca starch really does the trick, making these Double Chocolate Banana Muffins SO flipping fluffy!
Molasses + Coconut Sugar: Coconut sugar gives these Vegan Double Chocolate Banana Muffins slight caramel undertones. You can replace it with cane sugar or light brown sugar and you’ll get similar results. The molasses is a must in these muffins – so I really would not recommend leaving it out. It brings the fudginess of these Double Chocolate Muffins to the NEXT LEVEL!
Mini Chocolate Chips: Okay, so using mini chocolate chips is not necessarily a necessity buuuuutt they are always my preference because you get more melty chocolate dispersed into every bite. 😉 I use the Enjoy Life Brand because they are certified GF and Vegan.
Super RIPE Bananas: I mean like super spotty and brown bananas, baby! None of this green banana stuff in these super fudgey vegan muffins. A trick I like to do is peel and freeze my bananas when they are SUPER ripe. Once they are defrosted, a couple mashes with a fork and your bananas are ready for baking!
Cacao Powder or HIGH quality Cocoa Powder PLUS instant coffee: I used cacao powder in these muffins which is one of my favorite things to bake with because it’s basically cocoa powder with a lot less of the processing. Replace it with high quality cocoa powder if you don’t have cacao powder on hand. You don’t taste the coffee in the final result but it really makes the chocolate flavor POP in these Healthy Double Chocolate Chip Muffins, Yum!
- 1¼ cup oat flour (139 gr.)
- 1 cup almond meal (102 gr.)
- 3 slightly rounded tbsp tapioca starch (24 gr.)
- 3 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1¼ cup mashed banana
- ½ cup coconut sugar*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp unsulfured molasses
- ¼ cup + 1 tbsp cacao powder or high quality cocoa powder
- ½ tbsp instant coffee*
- ⅔ cup mini chocolate chips (+ 2 tbsp for sprinkling on top!)
- Pre-heat oven to 355F/180C. Lightly grease a muffin pan with coconut oil, non-stick cooking spray or with liners.
- In a medium size mixing bowl measure and whisk together dry ingredients (oat flour through to sea salt) until evenly dispersed. Note: I recommend using a measuring scale for the ingredients because if you over-measure it will make a difference in the final result! If you do not have a kitchen scale, lightly fluff your flours with a spoon before scooping them up and measuring them.
- Mash the bananas in a large bowl and measure to make sure it's exactly 1¼ cups. Add the coconut sugar, vanilla extract, unsulfured molasses and whisk together. Whisk in the cocoa powder until a thick-ish chocolate mixture is formed.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir together until a thick batter is formed (see photo). You do not have to worry about over-mixing because there is no gluten in the batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin pan (using an ice cream scoop or a slightly greased ¼ cup measuring cup makes this a lot easier!). There is approximately ¼ heaping cup in each muffin cup. Bake for 14 - 17 minutes, the amount of baking time with depend on your oven. The muffins are ready when an inserted toothpick comes out almost clear. Leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a cooling rack.
2) Feel free to use naturally decaffeinated instant coffee.
3) Make sure all your ingredients are certified vegan and gluten free if necessary.
4) It's really important to leave your muffins to cool for 5 - 10 minutes in the muffin pan before transferring them to a cooling rack so they stay together. Okay, maybe sneak one muffin but leave the rest to cool!
5) You can make your own almond meal and oat flour by blending together oats or almonds in the blender until a fine flour-like consistency is formed.
Inspired by: My Chocolate Banana Bread Bars and The Vegan 8's Double Chocolate Muffins.
42 comments
Omg these came out amazing! Turned mine into muffin tops and they came out perfect! Heaven…..
Yay!! SO happyy you enjoyed them!
If I use a Gluten Free Baking Mix (i.e. Pure Pantry) – how would I adjust this recipe?
Hi Teresa! I would not use a gluten free baking mix in these. I think that these muffins might turn out dry if you make them with one. It’s the mix of almond, oat and tapioca flour which make these so fluffy and moist 🙂
These were sooooo amazing. I ate all of them by myself and I’m not ashamed lol
Hyl! SÃ¥ frustrerande! Men 😉 det ordner seg nok! Men det kan godt ordne seg fort! Tok imot rÃ¥d om Ã¥ bruke gammalt red.prog, og fekk lagt ut noko roteri. Likar IKKJE dette programmet. Lykke til alle saman!Klem E.
Hi,
I hate to be the person to ask about substitutions but I just found out I have a food sensitivity to almonds (I know what a bummer) is there any other flour I can substitute it for (it can’t be sunflower seed flour, I’m highly allergic to that). These look so delicious!
Hmmm, the almond flour is pretty vital in these muffins so I don’t think that subbing it out would work! You could try playing with the amount and using extra oat flour. Would love to know your results if you end up trying them 🙂
Happy Birthday!
I am going to have to make these muffins soon. I have been missing muffins since going gluten free.
<3 Thank you Dannii!!!
Happy belated birthday young lady! I hope you had a good one and are your exams over now?
Delicious double chocolate banana muffins, Ceara! Muffins are always comfort food for me, and then there’s chocolate, and banana! You’ve got em all in here! I just started using coconut sugar and am so excited to try it in baked recipes… so happy to see it used in your recipe here!
Thank you my friend!!! <3 Coconut sugar is the best! One of my favorite sugars to bake with - love the toffee flava it gives to sweets!
I hope you had a great birthday! Vegan seafood?! That sounds interesting! I hope you enjoyed it! Bananas and chocolate are my favorite things too! They just go so well together and even better when they are baked into muffins! Good luck with your final exams 🙂
Thank you, Izzy! They flavor the seafood with seaweed apparently to give it that fishy flavor! It’s a nice treat for once in a while 🙂
Happy Birthday Ceara! I hope it will be perfect for you. These muffins look so yummy.
Happy birthday!! Too funny that you forgot how old you were turning! Hope you had a great day 🙂 🙂 These muffins look like the perfect way to celebrate.
Thank you for the birthday wishes my friend!! Muffins are always the perfect way to celebrate 🙂
omg…so much chocolately goodness!! I can just want to eat one…like right now, this very instant. =) I hope you had the most wonderful birthday ever btw!! and good luck on your exams. You’ll rock ’em for sure.
I’ve been seeing these muffins all over pinterest and each time I’m drooling! I’m so incredibly bad at making gluten-free muffins but yours look out of this world good! Pinning again and again 🙂
<3 Yay!! So happy these are making their way into the Pinter-verse :) Thank you for all the pins girl, xo!
Happy B-Day Girl! Wonderful muffins! They sound and look amazing! Pinned!
<3<3 Thank you for the birthday wishes and pin, xo!
Happy Happy Birthday, Ceara! Hope you have a great time celebrating! These chocolate banana muffins look so decadent and delicious! Love the double chocolate!
<3 Thank you for the birthday wishes, Kelly! :) It's all about the double chocolate, yum!
Happy birthday, Ceara! I hope you had a fantastic day! These muffins look so perfect, Ceara! I love the chocolate and banana combo. Banana anything is my favorite, so I can only imagine how delicious these must taste! Pinned!
Thank you my friend!!! 🙂 Chocolate + Banana is one of my favorite combos ever!! Hope you are having a wonderful week!!
Happy Birthday Ceara! I mean, you’re over 10 years younger than me, Ha!!! Oh to be 24 again, not sure if I’d go back, no definitely not =) But hope you had a wonderful Birthday!!!! You have totally prompted me with this recipe to get some high quality cocoa flour, it’s been on the “to-do” list but yet hasn’t gotten done, need some for these luscious, melt in your mouth muffins. Scrumptious in every way. I love a good muffin with a cuppa tea for sure =)
Thank you, Laura!!! 🙂 My birthday was a blast!!! And yes, it’s all about the high quality cocoa powder. It truly makes a world of difference in baked goods!! 🙂 Have a beautiful day!
Vegan seafood? I may not be adventurous enough to try that, but it definitely sounds interesting!
Now these muffins!! I love this! I am itching for some chocolate muffins right about now!
Yes! They flavor it naturally with seaweed to give it that “seafood” flava! It’s supeerrr yummy!!! 😀 And thank you, Cathleen! Sending a muffin your way!
Healthy, delicious, chocolatey, I’m sold!
I hope you had a relaxing birthday night and enjoyed the restaurant.
<3 Thank you Cara!!!
Happy Birthday girl! I hope you have an awesome day 😉 …. these double chocolate muffins sure look like the perfect way to celebrate! I mean ya can’t ever have enough chocolate on your birthday right?!
<3 NEVER enough chocolate!! :D Thank you so much, Michele!!
Je ne suis pas franc-comtois (quoique en cherchant bien on puisse trouver de la famille), mais je trouve que la magie du lieu ressort très bien de cette 3e partie. Et plus généralement, j’ai été extrêmement touché par cette petite BD qui me rappelle les meilleures pages du Journal d’un remplaçant. Je trouve que tu as une approche de l&hosuq;autobiograprie pleine de simplicité et extrêmement sensible, et c’est vraiment ce que je préfère dans ton travail.
Thank you so much for linking to my gluten-free double chocolate muffins Ceara!! I’m so glad my muffins with the tapioca starch usage inspired you to use it in these because they look wonderful, even if I don’t like banana, lol! They look incredibly beautiful! Great photos girl! And wow, you told me you love vanilla, 2 tbsp, yes you do lol! I bet that makes them taste sooooo gourmet! I’m kind of wanting to lick the screen of my phone, lol!
Oh and happy birthday my sweet friend!! Xoxo
Thank you, Brandi! Your muffins inspired this recipe!! I would have never thought to add tapioca otherwise! And you know how much I love your Double Chocolate muffins!! 🙂
And Oh my goodness – I can read a post a hundred times and still find little typos in it! I just fixed it – it’s definitively just 2 tsp of vanilla, lol!!! 🙂 Thank you for telling me!!
And thank you so much for the Birthday wishes, xo <3
Happy birthday Ceara! 🙂 These muffins look so delicious, I love that you have molasses and coconut sugar in the recipe- they must be super flavourful! I’ll have to get some tapioca starch and make a batch of these 🙂
Thank you, Mel!! The coconut sugar and molasses makes them so flavorful and just the right amount of sweet! Can’t wait to hear your results if you try them!
These are perfect from the fluffy muffin bottom to the mini choco chip-sprinkled top! And I’d say they’re nearing cupcake decadence, so definitely birthday-approved 🙂 Happy Birthday girl xoxo
Hehe, thank you!!! They are verging on cupcake-esque with how rich they are! xoxo