Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

These banana chocolate chip muffins are moist, chocolatey, stay together, and best of all - they're GLUTEN FREE!



As I've said before, my love of baking always gets in the way of my dad's love of healthy eating. My dad is great about trying to get us to eat less sugar and breads - and he really practices what he preaches, too!

Which is why my tempting sugary baked goods are almost more than he can handle.

Recently he's been diagnosed with being gluten intolerant. So now he really can't eat my breads and goodies, no matter how tempting they are. Wheat makes his stomach go nuts - so he's been asking me to find gluten free breads that he can eat.

So far, I've only found a few trusty recipes that seem to work always, no matter what. These banana chocolate chip muffins were one of the first recipes I tried that actually worked, and tasted good too.

The "trick" ingredient is xantham gum. It's what will hold your breads and cookies together when you use an alternative flour. I've tried not using it, and I've tried using it, and believe me, there IS a difference! It's definitely worth buying.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1/2 C. butter, softened

1/2 C. sugar

1/2 C. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 C. mashed ripe bananas

3 tsp. vanilla extract

2 C. rice flour

3 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 tsp. xanthum gum

1 C. chopped nuts (optional)

1 C. chocolate chips *not optional, in my opinion!*

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Combine rice flour, xantham gum, and soda; add to creamed mixture. Fold in nuts and chocolate chips.

Fill greased muffins tins half-full. Bake at 350* for 15 - 20 minutes, or until done.

My happy dad!! Finally, a muffin that he can eat.

And notice that there's two muffins gone? Yep, he liked them!And so did the rest of us. Eating gluten free doesn't have to be disgusting. Pretty much everyone in my family loved these muffins.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH BANANAS....

....don't panic. I didn't have enough bananas either. That's happened to me a lot before, and I've learned to supplement with ingredients that have similar properties.

For these banana chocolate chip muffins, I only had two bananas, equalling 3/4 cup of mashed bananas. For the remaining 3/4 cup, I used sour cream. Applesauce workes nicely, too.

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