Gluten-Free Blueberry Banana Muffins

Today’s favourite number?  Twelve.  As in one dozen scrumptious blueberry banana muffins…

I have always loved to bake.  Cakes for birthdays, crumbles as seasonal desserts, cookies at Christmas, and apple and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving dinner…I have made a lot of baked goods in my lifetime and, while I don’t want to toot my own horn, I also don’t want to lie.  I am a hecky-darn good baker.  I started baking before I could even reach the counter.  In the recesses of my mind, I can vaguely remember standing on a kitchen chair with a tea towel tied across my front, serving as my apron.  I would wield a rolling pin too heavy for my small arms to lift and I would help my mother and grandmother roll out pastry dough.  However, despite this long history and love of baking, after my diagnosis with celiac disease, I stopped.  Why?  Gluten-free baking just seemed too daunting, too difficult and too different…

Never in my life had I ventured down the specialty baking aisle.  Never had I heard of xanthan gum.  Is that what robots chew to maintain fresh breath? Teff flour?  What’s that? Sorghum, garbanzo and tapioca flour?  Huh? Potato starch?  That’s kinda weird, isn’t it? In my pantry, it was wheat flour all the way (except for once a year, at Christmastime, when I would buy a single bag of white rice flour, a necessity for the proper re-creation of my mum’s famous shortbread).

However, after six long months without baking, I began to miss it.  I missed watching the raw ingredients morph into sinfully decadent and wonderful smelling, fresh-from-the-oven indulgences.  I missed sharing my creations with friends, family and co-workers.  And, on top of everything else, I really wanted a freshly baked cookie!  So, I decided to conquer the specialty baking aisle and I dove, headfirst, into the wide world of gluten-free baking.

After I began pouring over gluten-free baking recipes, I quickly realized how many amazing flours and exotic whole grains my wheat-centric pantry had been lacking all those years.  I made a long list and went on a specialty baking aisle shopping spree, stocking my barren pantry shelves with a vast array of gluten-free flours.  Teff? Yes. Sorghum, garbanzo and tapioca?  Of course. Sweet rice, brown rice, buckwheat and corn?  You bet!

On Friday, I made my first-ever batch of sorghum peanut butter cookies.  And, on Sunday morning, sitting around the breakfast table with Daniel and two of our friends, we slathered butter and homemade raspberry jam over freshly made (and gluten-free) warm blueberry banana muffins.  Being my first foray into gluten-free muffin making, I anxiously held my breath as everybody took their first bite…and, looking around the table, I saw nods of approval and heard exclamations of praise.  I let out a sigh of relief and I dug in.  The muffins were moist.  They were flavourful.  And they were mmm mmm good.  Crunchy, nutty flax seeds, fresh blueberries bursting with gooey sweetness, subtle banana flavour and overall muffiny goodness.  (And, as an added bonus, these muffins don’t make my blood sugar spike – always, always a good thing.)

So, for your gluten-free baking pleasure, here is my variation of the Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Muffin recipe. Enjoy!

½ c. natural whole cane sugar
½ c. mashed, overripe banana (about 1½ bananas)
1½ c. milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. oil
1 c. white rice flour
½ c. tapioca flour
¼ c. potato starch
⅔ c. Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal
¼ c. whole flax seeds
2 tsp. baking powder
1½ tsp. xanthan gum
125g fresh blueberries (about 3/4 c.)

Preheat oven to 350̊F.  Mix together sugar, banana, milk, vanilla and oil.  In different bowl, combine flours, potato starch, cereal, flax, baking powder and xanthan gum.  Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until almost blended.  Add blueberries.  Stir until just blended.  Do not over mix.  Oil muffin tins, fill ⅔ full and bake 20 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.  Approximately 40g carbohydrate each.