Meals and snacks in glass jars are so #ontrend right now. I get it – they're totally Instagrammable...
Gwyneth Paltrow's Favourite Muffins
I don’t like looking at books that don’t have pictures. Wait, let me rephrase that so I don’t sound like an 8-year-old: I don’t looking at recipe books that don’t have pictures.
I find it hard to visualise the end product and just prefer to look at gorgeous images of mouth-watering food. (But if I’m honest, whatever I make never looks like the picture anyway.)
That’s why when I first bought Gwyneth Paltrow’s most recent book It's All Good: Delicious, Easy Recipes That Will Make You Look Good and Feel Great, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more pictures. Plenty of lovely shots of Gwyneth, yes – her at the beach, her in a field, her in front of a wall, her in another field (you get my drift) – but not so much of the food.
Luckily that didn’t put me off for too long because today I made her recipe for banana, date and pumpkin seed muffins and they were a hit. Chewy, moist, flavoursome and just the right amount of sweetness.
The It’s All Good recipe called for included gluten-free flour and olive oil, but I changed these to almond meal, coconut flour and coconut oil. I also reduced the amount of maple syrup to lower the sugar content. They still turned out like a dream – the perfect muffin!
GWYNETH PALTROW'S BANANA, DATE AND PUMPKIN SEED MUFFINS
Makes 12
Ingredients
1½ cups almond meal
½ coconut flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of sea salt
2 ripe bananas, mashed
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup good-quality maple syrup
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
½ cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
¼ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas) + more to sprinkle on top
Method
- Preheat oven to 175°C / 375°F.
- Mix dry ingredients (almond meal, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt) together in a small bowl.
- In another bowl, mix wet ingredients (bananas, coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla essence). Combine wet and dry ingredients well.
- Resist the tempation to eat the batter.
- Stir through dates and pumpkin seeds.
- Divide into muffin trays and sprinkle more pumpkin seeds on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
Notes
- This recipe is paleo, gluten-free and dairy-free. But let's be honest – who cares? The main thing is: THESE ARE DELICIOUS!
- To make it vegan, swap the eggs for 2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk and ½ teaspoon of xantham gum (if you have it – xantham gum helps the muffins stick together, otherwise without the eggs/gum as a binder they can be very crumbly).
- If you recreate this recipe, don't forget to tag me in a pic of on Instagram @jenna.westphal and #jennawestphal so I can see it. Enjoy!