Tahini Gluten-Free Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips

These tahini gluten-free banana muffins with chocolate chips are naturally sweetened, tender and moist, with a chewy crumb and just the right amount of chocolate. Unlike those cakes masquerading as muffins, these nut-free, refined sugar-free, and gluten-free banana muffins are the perfect morning bite. 

Do you ever feel like you're so behind on absolutely everything that there's just no way you can ever catch up?

I remember this notion so distinctly in college. There literally weren't enough hours in the day to do all the assigned reading, and I just accepted that as a fact of college. I'd think, "As soon as I graduate, I'll feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Just get through this."

That was a pipe dream. Each phase of life makes way for a new stage, each with its own overwhelming sense of never-ending to-do-lists. Over and over again, I promise myself that there's an end in sight. Now that I'm a grown-up with kids and bills, though, I'm realizing that's just life. Last month, I vowed to be a new person as soon as our home remodel construction was over. And I am, but that milestone passed with a different phase of busy taking its place. And so it goes. 

Tahini Gluten-Free Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips

These banana tahini muffins seem like just the breakfast recipe to mark the transition between phases. Just as construction wrapped up, these muffins were the last recipe I shot and shared with the contractors and painters. And with the remodel (nearly) finished, I've been sitting on this tahini chocolate chunk muffin recipe for a month. There still aren't enough hours in the day. 

A batch of make-ahead grab-n-go breakfast muffins is giving me life right now.

Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Muffins

For these banana bread style muffins, I used chocolate chunks because I like how melty and gooey the chocolate gets when the muffins are warm. That being said,  I've also made them using dark or semisweet chocolate chips with equal success! Use what you've got on hand. 

Just remember, if you're aiming for the muffins to be entirely refined-sugar free, look for a chocolate bar or chocolate chips sweetened with coconut sugar or other refined sugar-free sweeteners. Or leave the chocolate out entirely!

And if bananas aren't your thing?

I've tested these banana chocolate chip muffins with date paste in place of the banana puree. It's equally delicious, though ever-so-slightly more moist/dense, with the tahini taking a starring role. 

Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Banana Muffins

Coconut flour makes a great pairing for banana and maple-sweetened desserts because of its hygroscopic nature - it absorbs the extra liquid, keeping the muffins from becoming too dense from moisture. 

Paired with oat flour for cakiness and sweet rice flour for chew, these three flours create a muffin that's simultaneously moist, soft, cakey, and chewy. 

Banana Muffins with Tahini

Adding nut butter to muffins is a great way turn a muffin in a main dish, but when you need a nut-free school-safe alternative, tahini swoops right in. Its toastiness adds a subtle nutty note that's warm and comforting, especially when paired with dark chocolate.

Think peanut butter and banana toast drizzled with chocolate, but a thousand times more sophisticated. And good for you to boot!

Recipe

Tahini Gluten-Free Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips

yields: 11 muffins

prep time: 15 minutes mins

cook time: 25 minutes mins

total time: 40 minutes mins

These gluten-free tahini banana muffins with chocolate chips are made with tahini. Sweetened only with bananas and maple syrup, these are muffins made to start your day.

4.80 from 29 reviews

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Ingredients

• ▢ ⅔ cup whole milk
• ▢ 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• ▢ ½ cup (65 g) coconut flour
• ▢ ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons (70 g) sweet rice flour, different from "white rice flour" or "brown rice flour"
• ▢ ½ cup (54 g) gluten-free oat flour
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ½ cup tahini
• ▢ ¼ cup neutral oil, such as sunflower or refined coconut oil
• ▢ ⅓ cup pureed ripe banana, about 1 banana *See notes for date alternative
• ▢ ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ▢ ½ cup (3 oz) chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• ▢ 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, optional

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INSTRUCTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tray with 11 liners.
• In a glass mixing cup, mix together milk and vinegar and set aside.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together coconut flour, sweet rice flour, oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, mix together tahini, oil, banana, maple syrup, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs and mix until just combined.
• With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 2 parts, alternating with the milk. Fold in the chocolate chunks, reserving a few large chunks to put on top.
• Divide the batter evenly among 11 muffin cups. Press a few chunks into the top of each muffin and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Bake for 24-26 minutes, until lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool until ready to serve.
• Serve warm or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

*Alternatively, if you don't love bananas, you can sub out the banana puree for date paste (how to make date paste here!). The muffins will be slightly more dense/moist, but very subtly so!