Easy Sugar Free Banana Nut Muffins with Almond Flour (gluten free)

These Easy Sugar Free Banana Nut Muffins with Almond Flour are a delicious bakery style alternative to the usual chocolate chip muffin.

Naturally sweetened with maple syrup and bananas and also packed with crunchy walnuts and chocolate chips, these muffins are incredibly moist and rich, making them perfect for breakfast or as an on-the-go snack idea.

Why this recipe works

This is an easy muffin recipe that is also made with healthier ingredients. By swapping regular all purpose flour for protein-rich almond flour and using maple syrup as a natural sweetener, you get a muffin that is incredibly moist, dense, and naturally flavorful.

Here is what else you will like about this recipe.

• Chopped walnuts give these muffins a nice crunch while the chocolate chips give a burst of flavor in every bite..
• Banana Nut muffins with chocolate chips are a perfect breakfast or snack idea.
• These freezer friendly almond flour banana nut muffins are naturally gluten free, and sweetened without refined sugars, by using ripe bananas and maple syrup.
• Personalizing this recipe is as easy as swapping out the maple syrup with a totally sugar free alternative or using another kind of chopped nut.

Have you tried my recipe for Sugar Free Brown Butter Chocolate Muffins

Made with salted butter, that is perfectly browned to a rich nutty flavor perfection, those muffins are moist and tender. Both this recipe for Banana Nut Muffins and that recipe for Brown Butter Muffins are great tasting muffin that can be made without adding refined sugar.

To make this recipe 100% Sugar Free, you can use a Sugar Free Maple Syrup that can be used in baking. You can find Sugar Free Maple Syrup here.

Ingredients needed.

• Almond Flour Spooned and leveled for accuracy.
• Leaveners Baking Powder and Baking Soda.
• Seasonings. Ground Cinnamon and Salt.
• Bananas. Use ripe bananas that have been mashed.
• Maple Syrup. A sugar free maple syrup can be used. Use an alternative that measures 1:1 with maple syrup, such as monk fruit or allulose-based maple syrup (like certain Lakanto or ChocZero syrups).
• Oil Use a neutral oil such as vegetable oil.
• Egg At room temperature.
• Vanilla Extract Added for flavor.
• Walnuts Roughly chopped.
• Sugar Free Chocolate Chips. Use sugar free chocolate chips that can be baked with.

Tips for making the best Banana Nut Muffins

Because almond flour is more dense than regular all purpose flour, we need to measure it using the 'spoon and level' measuring method. To do this use a spoon to scoop the almond flour into a measuring cup until it overflows, then using a butter knife (or flat object) to level off the excess almond flour. Packing the almond flour into a measuring cup usually results in having with too much, resulting in a dry, crumbly muffin.

More helpful tips for you.

1. So, even though this is a gluten free recipe, we still need to be concerned about over-mixing the ingredients when they are combined together in the large bowl. Almond flour combined with the egg can result in the 'sink factor' in muffins. That is, your muffins will rise while baking and then will 'sink' as they cool.
2. For a more 'bakery-style' muffin, after combining the ingredients in the bowl, you can cover the batter and let it rest on the counter for 15 minutes before filling the muffin cups to allow the almond flour to get more out of the leavening agents. Also, you can use a pan for jumbo muffins and fill the muffin cups to the top (prep for an easier clean up).
3. To bring out the flavor of the walnuts, you can toast them in a dry pan for three to five minutes until fragrant before folding them into the batter. This keeps the walnuts crunchy and intensifies that nutty flavor that pairs so well with maple syrup and almond flour.
4. Not allowing these muffins to set in the pan and fully cool before eating can result in the muffins falling apart as almond flour is more fragile than regular all purpose flour. These muffins need at least 15–20 minutes to fully "set" and cool. If you pull them out of the liner too early, they may fall apart.

FAQ

• Are these muffins gluten-free?
  As written in this recipe they are. By using almond flour instead of wheat flour, these muffins are naturally gluten-free and grain-free. However, you may want to make sure that your sugar free chocolate chip and other ingredients are also 'gluten-free' just to be sure.
• Why are my almond flour muffins soggy in the middle?
  These muffins need more time than the usual muffin to set as the almond flour is more moist than regular all purpose flour. If your muffins are soggy, it could be because they were not baked long enough, the bananas were not measure correctly, or the muffins were just not allowed to properly set. You can try baking the muffins for an extra 2–3 minutes and allow them to fully set.
• Why did my muffins not rise like regular muffins?
  Because almond flour is a heavier flour than all-purpose flour and because it does not have gluten to "trap" air, muffins made with with almond flour to not rise as much. To get a better rise, you can make sure that your baking soda is fresh and make sure that you do not over-mash the bananas into a pure liquid.
• How do I make Replace the Maple Syrup with a sugar free alternative?
  Keep in mind that maple syrup is a wet ingredient which means you must use a liquid alternative that measures like maple syrup to keep the dry-wet ingredient balance intact.
  Make sure that you use a liquid sugar alternative that measures like maple syrup and that can also be baked with. For example, a monk fruit or allulose-based maple syrup (like Lakanto or ChocZero). These are a 1:1 swap and maintain the exact liquid ratio of the recipe.
• Can I use fresh bananas in this recipe? As a general rule, the riper the banana, the sweeter the muffin. For a sugar-free version, I like to use bananas that are completely covered in black spots. Really ripe bananas add moisture and a nice sweet flavor to these muffins.
  If your bananas are not ripe enough, you can roast them in their skins at 300°F (150°C) for 15 minutes until they turn black and leaky.

Variations.

• Change the muffin size. Making these into mini or jumbo muffins can be a fun idea. Just note that the baking times can vary depending on the pan that you use.
• Espresso Muffins. Add ¼ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and a teaspoon of espresso powder (or instant coffee) to the dry ingredients. You can balance out the flavor by adding an extra tablespoon of maple syrup (or sugar-free liquid sweetener) to balance the bitterness of the cocoa.
• Protein Muffins . Replace ¼ cup of the almond flour with a scoop of vanilla or chocolate collagen peptides (or protein powder).

How to store banana nut chocolate chip muffins.

Once they have fully cooled, these muffins should be stored in an airtight container. While they can be stored at room temperature for a day or so, these muffins should be refrigerated for up to five days. They can also be frozen for up to a few months. You can pop one in the microwave for 10-20 seconds for that "fresh-baked" warmth!

You may also be interested in these muffin recipes.

• Sugar Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Sugar Free Chunky Monkey Muffins
• Sugar Free Carrot Cake Muffins
• No Added Sugar Banana Carrot Muffins
• Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
• 25 Recipes for Muffins Made with No Added Sugar