Banana Walnut Muffins are a delicious breakfast or snack. This healthy recipe uses brown rice flour and is sweetened with honey for a nutritious and delicious muffin!
Hey Mom,
Happy Mother’s Day! I wish I was enjoying the day with you in person, but since I’m not, I figured I’d write you a letter broadcasting how much I la-de-dove you. Right now, you’re in the mountains hiking around, enjoying nature with Carlo and having a relaxing day. You’re far from the intranet, and that’s awesome, so you’ll get to read this when you’re home and all tuckered out.
Mother. You’ve given everything you have to your family.
Every morning in high school, you made me my favorite smoothie and toast with the perfect amount of butter (about half a stick). You made me turkey pitas for lunch and even though those got real old after a while, you made sure I always had healthy food to fuel my developing brain. You drove me to school at 6:30am to get tutored by my physics teacher. You raised a family while owning a business. You. are. a. powerhouse!
You made me tea while I wailed about my breakups. You travelled with me all across the country. You pretended to be my sister while we were in a comedy club in New York City. You cultured me. You bought me my first Ayn Rand book, my Barbara Kingsolver books, my Paulo Coelho collection. We watched foreign films together. Ate too much Dulce de Leche ice cream. You and me. We’re real firecrackers.
You taught me how to bake. You made my brother’s and sister’s wedding cakes. Who does that? You.
You encouraged me to be me. You never told me who to be or what to become. You gave me unconditional support and for that…I have no words.
You love geology. Right now, you’re looking at rocks in the mountains. I don’t get it and sometimes I tune you out a little bit while you’re telling me about geology, but I love that you love the earth and I love that you are always learning. You’re my rock. And now you’re crying, I can just tell.
You’re energetic and animated with your grandkids. You teach them, play with them, give them sugar and they love you to pieces.
You’re the hardest worker I know. The most honest person I know. You never make mountains out of mole hills and you help everyone around you keep life in perspective. You make every person you meet feel good about themselves.
I love that you always have dreams. You always want to do things. And you and Carlo are building a cabin with your own hands. I love that. And you posted on my blog! How freaking cool!
If I could teleport these Banana Walnut Muffins to you so that you and Carlo could have a hikey treat, I absolutely would. I don’t need to tell you how these should be served because you already know. With half a stick of butter. Drizzle of honey. A berry smoothie. Alongside as many books as you have the attention span to read. Bangity BOOM!
Your favorite flower is growing in my front yard, so I think of you every time I leave and come home. I know you like the white irises the best, but this guy’s pretty friendly too.
I love you mom. This year, you get a letter. Next year you get a rap song. Mueller women, represent!
From your daughter who thinks the woooooorld of you,
Julia
Gluten Free Banana Walnut Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
- 2 eggs
- ¼ cup avocado oil*
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 1/3 cup brown rice flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly oil a muffin pan
- In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas and whisk in the eggs, oil and honey.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the brown rice flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and walnuts.
- Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until completely combined.
- Fill the muffin holes three-quarters of the way up with batter.
- Bake in for 30 minutes or until muffins test clean.
- Serve with butter and honey!
That was my first time using brown rice flour and I wish I wasn’t celiac. My muffins burnt too on the bottoms. I hate myself for being celiac and I feel like a failure every time a recipe fails.
I’m never making these muffins again. The muffins stuck to the cupcake liners and this made me really mad. I hate when my recipes don’t turn out and I’m throwing out the brown rice flour in the garbage. I’m never using it again.
Hi Kaylyn! I’m so sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out for you! I have a couple of questions. How long have you owned your muffin pan, and what is it made out of? Have you checked to be sure your oven bakes at the correct temperature? Sticking an oven thermometer inside of your oven and testing it at 350 can at least rule out the oven as being an issue. And lastly, when you bake, do you put the item on the shelf in the middle? If you’re putting it on a shelf that’s closer to the bottom of the oven, this could definitely be the culprit. If you’re able to answer these questions, I’m happy to troubleshoot further. xoxo
Great recipe to use up some of my brown rice flour stock! They rose beautifully when I baked at 425 for 5 minutes, then lowered the temp to 350 for 16 minutes. Doubled the recipe easily and got 22.5 super tasty muffins
Is that one cup AND 1/3 cup brown rice flour?
Hi Lindsay,
Yes, it’s one and one third cup 😀 Hope you enjoy!
Well… so much better than I’ve expected! (had a bad day for cooking)
I have used white rice flower and a bit of almond flour + all purpose, used coconut oil, also did a smaller batch. The texture is beautiful! The only thing I would change, I would use less honey as muffins turned out nearly too sweet :O :p
Thanks for an easy and really good recipe 😉
I used flax eggs instead and it turned out so good!!!
thanks!!!!!!!!!!
That’s awesome, Nat! I’m so happy to hear it! Thank you for letting me know 🙂 xo
Adorable story about your mom. Thank you for posting this recipe! I’m getting ready to cook for a crowd and this is perfect for some food intolerances.
I tried this with safflower oil and a tsp of vanilla extract to the wet. I also subbed 1/3 of the flour for buckwheat, and added a tsp each of allspice, ginger root powder, and nutmeg. Other than that I stuck to the recipe….
The results out of the oven looked pretty good. Evenly cooked, good texture on the first appearance. When they cooled, I cut it and they were a little dense. There were nice moist little chunks of banana still in the muffins which I love. The nuts cooked perfectly inside, I don’t like raw walnuts and considered caramelizing them first, but didn’t for the sake of time and an extra pan to clean! The flavor was flat, but overall they were a bit bitter, and dry. I’m cooling them in the fridge because that somehow has elevated the banana flavor with breads I’ve made in the past, and I hope it does so with these as well. My quick fix to not waste them would be to slice them in half and spread some jam for flavor. Toasting them with butter might help as well, but the crowd I’m testing these for won’t be able to add anything to them, its a grab and go kind of thing.
Next time, I will try using coconut oil, sub 1/3 almond meal, double the spices, double the honey, and maybe a splash of coconut milk. I’ll also make half with a light oat streusel topping to give it more flavor. I hope it’ll work out better!
Can coconut flour substitute rice flour?
Coconut flour is very absorbent and fluffy, so it might eat up the wet ingredients quickly. Almond meal would probably be the best, but with a nut/almond allergy, you might also consider oat flour (aka blended rolled oats), which are less absorbant options. As it is, my attempt was on the dry side. You can read my notes from attempting this in the comment below.