Gluten/Sugar Free Banana Muffins with Butterscotch Frosting

Banana and butterscotch is a winning combination.  Add to that having no processed sugars or gluten and you’ll be delighted to hand these to your little ones for breakfast or in their lunch boxes.  These are so light and moist and you’ll be able to resist those less than optimal treats being offered to you at work if you have these on hand.

The bonus on this recipe is you can simply throw everything in your blender for mixing.  This will make 6 muffins and can easily be converted to a banana cake.

Banana Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas (with brown spots on skin)
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut flour (another flour of choice would work)
• 1/2 cup coconut butter
• 1 t each cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla powder
• 1/4 t sea salt

Frosting: Optional

• Butterscotch nut butter – Recipe below

Directions:

1. Put ingredients in blender in order listed and blend on high until smooth.
2. Spoon into paper muffin cups or greased muffin tins.
3. Cook at 350 about 25 minutes or until lightly browned
4. After cooled frost with nut butter

Butterscotch Nut Butter Recipe:

Ingredients:

• Raw Cashews ground in a stone grinder until desired consistency or any 16 oz jar of Raw Cashew Butter (I recommend grinding fresh nuts yourself to ensure the quality of the nuts and that your end product is as silky and pourable as possible, but obviously this isn’t necessary or possible for everyone)

• 2 T Powdered Lucuma

• 10 drops White Chocolate flavor made by Medicine Flower

• Sweetener-options can include: Stevia and/or coconut sugar (I used 1T coconut sugar and 1/2 dropper vanilla stevia)

• Vanilla if not using vanilla stevia

• Sea salt

Directions:

Mix together by hand and adjust sweetener to taste

The possibilities of what to do with this butter are endless. I’ll be posting more recipes that use it, however.  For now, use your imagination, eat it straight out of the jar for an on the go treat, spread on bananas, use as a topping for banana ice cream or put it in candy molds and keep in freezer or refrigerator.  The possibilities are endless!

Nutritional Benefits:

Cashews are one of the sweetest nuts making it higher in carbohydrates compared to other nuts. They are high in mono unsaturated fat which has been shown to offer many health benefits. The vitamin, mineral and phytochemical profile is impressive along with important fiber.  Worth an honorable mention is its selenium content which is crucial for manufacturing glutathione peroxidase, possibly your most important antioxidant. Without proper levels of glutathione you will suffer subpar detoxification. (1)

Lucuma is a fruit that provides 14 essential trace elements.  In its powdered form it can easily be added to recipes to emulsify fats and sugars with the end product being very creamy. In a study conducted at Rutgers University it was shown that Lucuma may have anti-inflammatory properties when used topically. My hunch is that it would have the same effect internally. (2)

(1) www.nutrition-and-you.com
(2) www.livestrong.com