Banana, Pecan and Chocolate gluten free muffins: Stop the press! We have made our first ever gluten free, tasty, moist muffins and we’re here to share our recipe with you.I can’t tell you how difficult it has been to discover that in Italy, the land where gluten is King, I am gluten intolerant. Nothing too serious, a little puffing here and there and inexplicable bouts of lethargy. So a few months ago I set about trying to find a solution and found that gluten free flours and other products are priced as if they are ‘gourmet’.

In our gluten free kitchen we’re trying to keep it simple and affordable, and are feeling positive of our glutenless success for future culinary experiments.

If you are embarking upon a journey around the gluten free kitchen for the first time, don’t panic! If you are as seasoned at cooking as your baking pans, then there are a number of things we need to discuss. For example, here are a few things that you can expect from your new gluten free baking skills:

The gluten free flours feel like cornstarch between your fingers … don’t panic, just try not to use your hands in the initial mixing
You will need xanthan gum to reproduce our muffin recipe since we haven’t yet found a way of cooking our muffins without it
Did you know that glutinous rice flour has NO gluten
You will find glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour in Asian stores without difficulty
You will make just over half of the amount compared to everyday muffin recipes. This is because gluten free flours react in a different way once you add fluids – they shrink
You will need very little by way of fluids because of the way the flours react
Your muffins will be moist and slightly more ‘chewy’ than ‘cakey’, we are working on improving that by using less xanthan gum in the next batch and we will post our results here
Don’t be shy! If you experiment and come up with a wining formula, share it!

Enzo’s thoughts were that they could do with a little extra sugar or honey but he does have a very sweet tooth. If you do add a little more sugar, don’t worry about changing the measurements of the rest of the ingredients. There is no need to.

I made these for breakfast this morning and they take about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Banana, pecan and chocolate gluten free muffins

Makes 7 large ones

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup (4 oz) glutinous rice flour
1/4 cup (2 oz) cornstarch
1/4 cup (2 oz) tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (or less … but NOT more)
1/2 cup (4 oz) fine white (caster) sugar
16 grams (0.5 oz) ‘lievito’ (or 1 level tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt)
tiny pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 medium, ripe banana, mashed
1 tablespoon pecan nuts, crushed
1 tablespoon chocolate chips
1 level tablespoon cocoa powder

Liquid:

2 medium eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 medium, ripe banana, mashed
2 – 4 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 375 F / 190 C / Gas 5 – 6
Prepare your muffin tray
In a mixing bowl add all of the dry ingredients except the pecans, chocolate chips and cocoa power, then using a fork, stir everything to combine
In a small jug or bowl, add the eggs and vegetable oil and beat lightly with a fork, just enough to break the eggs
Pour the egg and oil mix into the bowl with the dry ingredients and use a spoon to combine it (it will be a bit sticky)
Add the banana, pecans, chocolate chips and cocoa powder
Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until you reach a batter that falls off the spoon very slowly
Divide the mix between your muffin holders and don’t be afraid to fill them to the rim if you use baking sheets for the lining like me. If you are using standard paper muffin cups, fill them to 3/4 or more and you may even get a few extra muffins
Place the muffins in the centre of the oven for up to 20 minutes or until they are raised and golden brown. Test them with a fine wooden skewer: pass it through one muffin and if it comes out covered in batter, keep cooking, if it comes out clean they are ready
Allow your muffins to cool a little before removing them from the muffin tray – or serves as is!