Banana-Berry Muffins (GFCF)

Thursday, my family and my friend Shellie’s family spent a really ideal day north of Sedona at Oak Creek Canyon, in one of my favorite childhood campgrounds, which has now been changed to day-use only:  Banjo Bill Picnic Area.  I’ll detail the trip in another post… The significant thing for now is that Shellie & I picked a whole bunch of blackberries which grow thick around the picnic area, and we’ve been eating and baking with them over the last few days.

Here’s a recipe I came up with to take care of both a few overripe bananas and the berries.  It is gluten-free and casein-free.  It uses Kinnikinnick Bread & Bun mix which is GFCF, but does have whole egg powder in it;  otherwise, this recipe would be egg-free, too.  I love using Kinnikinnick Bread & Bun Mix — it has a great texture, and has enough binders in it that no additional binders (like xanthan gum or guar gum) are needed.

Banana-Berry Muffins
Makes 18 muffins 

• 1 c. Kinnikinnick Bread & Bun Mix
• 1 c. sorghum flour
• 1 c. sweet rice flour
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 c. packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 medium or 3 small very ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
• 1/2 c. cooking oil
• 1 Tbsp egg replacer, or 2 eggs
• 2 tsp raspberry extract
• ~about~ 1 c. rice milk (see below)
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blackberries (or other fresh berries)

Line muffin tins with 18 paper baking cups.  Preheat oven to 375*.   

In a large bowl, blend the Bread & Bun Mix, sorghum flour, sweet rice flour, baking powder, brown sugar and cinnamon with a whisk.  Set aside.

In a 3 or 4 cup glass measuring cup, place the mashed bananas, cooking oil, egg replacer (or 2 eggs) and raspberry extract.  Blend well with a fork.  Add enough rice milk to the ingredients in the measuring cup until you have a total of 3 cups wet ingredients.  (If you use egg replacer, this will be approximately 1 cup rice milk.  If you use real eggs, this will be approximately 1/2 – 2/3 cup.)  Blend wet ingredients well with a fork, and add to dry ingredients.

With a rubber spatula, blend the wet and dry ingredients.  This will make a thick batter.  When the ingredients are well-combined, gently stir in the berries.

Spoon into 18 paper-lined muffin cups.  Fill baking cups 3/4 – 7/8 full (in other words, almost full of batter).  Bake about 22 minutes, or until muffins are lightly browned.

Muffins taste great either warm or cold.