Gluten free, Eggless Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

No chit chatting today because I’m super excited about this recipe. Its gluten free which means no flour, well there is flour but its besan or chick pea flour and before you ask, no you don’t get any besan-y flavour. Also its egg free, so yay for all the vegetarians and that’s not all, it is also dairy free, nut free and butter free…phew! For so many ‘frees’ these muffins sure taste pretty darn good. And the best part is that this recipe is easy as can be; wet ingredients into the dry ingredients- mix- bake- done! You have moist chocolaty all kinds of ‘free’ muffins.

So yeah, this is probably the shortest post I’ve done but I  really just wanted to get it out to you all at the earliest so you can make it for dessert, breakfast, after school snack, valentines…without a reason? Easy, healthy recipes are great to have in your repertoire as they can be replicated often and without hassle. I incorporated a banana in this which apart from adding a subtle flavour (it’s subtle since there’s  just one banana) also gives it a lovely texture; I have made it without the banana as well and it turned out just fine so you can leave it out if you like. Oh and I forgot to add  the chocolate chips to the batter so ended up sprinkling it on top which I think caused the muffins to slightly sink in the centre, which doesn’t affect the taste at all but I thought I’d let you know in case you’re bothered by appearance. This recipe yields 12 muffins or 8 large ones. Here’s the super simple healthy recipe, make it asap! And don’t forget to let me know what you think.

Ingredients

• Besan/ Chickpea flour- 1 ½ cups
• Vegetable oil- ½ cup
• Sugar- ¾ cup
• Cocoa powder- 1/3 cup
• Instant coffee powder- 1 tsp (optional)*
• Water- 1 cup
• Mashed banana- ½ cup (1 medium banana)
• White vinegar- 2 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 2 tsp
• Baking soda- ¾ tsp
• Baking powder- ½ tsp
• Salt- ½ tsp
• Chocolate chips- ½ cup

Instructions

*If using coffee- heat the one cup of water mentioned above, add the coffee powder to it and stir to dissolve; set aside to cool completely.

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line a muffin or cupcake tin with paper liners or lightly grease with oil.
2. In a small bowl, add all the wet ingredients; the cooled coffee or plain water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.
3. In a medium bowl sift together the chickpea flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add the sugar and stir to mix. Then add the wet ingredients and the mashed banana to dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, do not over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter evenly into muffin cups, filling each about three quarters full since these won’t rise too much. Bake for 15 minutes (check at 12 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Notes

• The coffee is optional but if you are using it, make sure it has cooled to room temperature.
• Mash the banana well, so you don’t get chunks of it in the muffin. I have also made it without the banana, so you can leave it out altogether if you so wish.
• Recipe adapted from the Chickpea flour cookbook.