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

1. Preheat oven to 175°C / 375°F.
2. Mix dry ingredients (almond meal, coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt) together in a small bowl.
3. In another bowl, mix wet ingredients (bananas, coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, vanilla essence). Combine wet and dry ingredients well.
4. Resist the tempation to eat the batter.
5. Stir through dates and pumpkin seeds.
6. Divide into muffin trays and sprinkle more pumpkin seeds on top of each muffin.
7. 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!