I bought a pack of Cloud 9's gluten-free, all-purpose baking mix from Costco to experiment with gluten-free, egg free baking. It's a combination of rice flour, buckwheat flour, corn starch, potato starch, tapioca flour and xanthan gum. I tried my usual vegan waffle recipe with the mix and we all liked it. In fact my eldest son mentioned that he can barely tell any difference in the taste or texture. I tried my luck with a blueberry scone recipe but it was a total disaster.
I can't figure out what went wrong. So I had stopped trying out new recipes for a while. I didn't want to waste the flour which is quite expensive. My successful attempt in baking these gluten-free brownies gave me the courage to experiment with the mix again. We had a lot of very ripe bananas at home and couple of boxes of unsweetened applesauce. I remembered seeing a banana applesauce muffins recipe in Canada's 150 Best Diabetes Desserts books. So I decided to bake a gluten-free version of the same. While gathering the ingredients I also decided to make it vegan.
Although the recipe was for regular size muffins I wanted to bake them as mini muffins because I remembered that one of the recent comments from a reader was that she usually bakes gluten-free and the muffins rise nicely if it's a mini muffin rather than regular size muffins. I had the same feeling that I had when I started to bake 5 years back
I was eagerly watching the oven as the muffins were rising and was surprised at how well and tall it rose. I wished that I had tried to bake at least one regular size muffin to see if it works. Taste-wise there was definitely a noticeable difference, at least for me. But my mother-in-law, sons and husband liked these gluten-free banana muffins a lot.
Recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Applesauce Muffins
Ingredients
Part 1:
- 1 cup gluten-free, all-purpose baking mix
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds, raw
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
PART 2:
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup coconut palm sugar
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil
- 1 tablespoon agave syrup
- 1 banana mashed (about ¾th of a cup)
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
SUBSTITUTES:
- gluten-free mix - all-purpose flour
- pumpkin seeds - any other seeds or nuts of your choice
- coconut palm sugar - brown sugar white sugar
- avocado oil - any oil of your choice
- agave syrup - optional see My Notes
- almond milk - any milk of your choice
- apple cider vinegar - white vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 400F/200C for 15 minutes. Line 24-cup mini muffin tin with paper liners or grease it lightly with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl stir together the Part 1 ingredients and set aside.
- In another medium size bowl combine together the Part 2 ingredients. Stir it into the flour mix until just combined.
- Grease a tablespoon with oil. Use it to scoop the batter and fill it in the prepared muffin tins. You can also choose to top the muffins with pumpkin seeds.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Mine was done in 11 minutes.
- Cool it completely on a wire rack before storing it.
My Notes
- I got just 21 mini muffins because I did use a lot of batter for each muffin and they raised a lot. So you can definitely get 2 dozen mini muffins if you don't use as much batter as I did.
- Greasing the tablespoon before scooping the dough makes it very easy to fill the muffin tins.
- These muffins were not that sweet and we are totally OK with it. But if you like your muffins sweeter you could add some chocolate chips, dried fruit or increase the quantity of sugar to ½ cup. I have used a tablespoon of agave syrup because I felt that the batter was not sweet at all.
- I wanted to make these muffins nut-free too, so that my son can take it to school. That's why added pumpkin seeds otherwise walnuts or pecans are good options too.
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Julia says
This is such a great recipe! Perfect for my df free, gf free, egg free daughter... she loves them!! Thanks so much 🙂
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Julia.
Jean says
Recently made this recipe and everyone really enjoyed it even my household members that eat eggs, flour and dairy. Its perfect! Thank you so much!
Madhuram says
You're very welcome, Jean.
Jaiden says
I have made this several times over and love this recipe so much! it rises perfectly. thank you for sharing it.
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Jaiden.
Mary Rodgers says
I am just curious why vegan recipes need the vinegar. I can’t have vinegar and I am wondering if The recipe would still work. Looking forward to experimenting with this recipe! Thanks.
Madhuram says
Vinegar with the combination of baking soda is the egg substitute in this recipe. It gives the airy lift just like eggs. If you omit vinegar the baked treat would be a bit dense.
Kim says
Can I use cocoa powder in it to make them chocolaty? If yes, do I have to change the measurements? And I would like to make big cupcakes instead of mini cupcakes, how much time it would need to stay in oven.
Thanks
Kim
Madhuram says
You can replace some of the flour with cocoa powder, Kim. Because these are egg free too I'm not sure how well regular size muffins will rise, that's why decided to bake it as mini muffins. The baking time would probably be 18-20 minutes, probably for bigger muffins.
Kim says
Hello Madhu, Can I bake it as a cake. If yes how long should I keep it in oven.
Thanks
Kim
Madhuram says
Hmm..I think it might work Kim. I saw the measurements and I'm guessing 6 inch pan will be perfect and if you don't have one use 8 inch pan and I'm guessing about 15-18 minutes bake time.
renee m says
Hi, 1/2 TABLEspoon (baking powder) isn't a standard measurement. Is that a typo or is it an estimate? I just estimated in my recipe. About to put it in the oven now 🙂 looking forward. Thank you!!
Madhuram says
It is not a typo Renee. There is 1/2 tablespoon measurement in the spoon set I have.
Nancy says
Have made these a few times now as they are a favorite by all. I have used several different type nuts (whatever is available on baking day) and have added raisins as well. They have turned out each time and are gone in a flash. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Nancy.
Charlotte Le Roux says
Hi Madhuram! I was super excited to find this recipe and I tried it right away! Now it's my all-time favorite muffin recipe because they're so easy to make and they're healthy and delicious! I want to make them again, but I've run out of bananas at the moment and was wondering if it would be possible to replace the bananas with applesauce and just make the whole thing an applesauce muffin instead. Do you think it would work/do you think a 1:1 replacement of bananas and applesauce would work? Thank you!
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback Charlotte. I think it should work out ok. Substitute equal amount of applesauce for the bananas and maybe just use 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder too.
Belinda Y. Hughes says
I'm so glad you included the substitutions and the note about making it nut free for sharing at school. Not many people think about those things. This sounds wonderful. I also like the applesauce. An apple a day keeps the doctor away. 🙂
Madhuram says
You're welcome Belinda.
Hari Chandana says
Lovely combination.. looks yummy!!