Banana Matcha Mini Muffins (GF, V, Paleo)

 I’m ethnically confused and still convinced I’m part Japanese. My normal diet consists of homemade southern soul food and Japanese dishes. That said, I love anything and everything matcha. I love the earthy flavor and love the metabolism/antioxidant boost even more. It’s easy to add to anything and really doesn’t require much at all. Feel free to double the matcha in this recipe for a stronger green-color and more intense matcha flavor. 

 

 

Ingredients:

Muffins:

• ½ cup coconut oil
• ¼ cup + 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 2 eggs or flax eggs
• 1 ½ cup mashed, ripe banana (about 1.5 bananas)
• 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free or grain-free flour*
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• pinch of pink salt
• 1 heaped tsp matcha powder

Chocolate Drizzle:

• 5 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 tbsp dairy free chocolate chips*
• 5 tbsp cacao powder

Notes:

• I like to use Namaste perfect gluten-free flour blend, but you can use Bob Red Mills all-purpose gluten-free flour, or ¾ cup almond or oat flour and ¼ cup coconut flour for paleo/grain-free.
• If you don’t want to use dairy-free chocolate chips, you can add more cacao powder and a liquid sweetener of choice – I usually use maple syrup, but you can also use honey or coconut syrup. You can also add a little bit of almond butter or nut butter as a thickener if needed.

 

Other Items:

• Mini muffin pan
• Mixing bowl or food processor

Directions: 

1. Preheat the over to 350F/180C and line a mini muffin tray with muffin liners or coconut oil.
2. In a mixing bowl or food processor, mix the coconut oil and coconut sugar.
3. Add the egg and mashed banana. If you want smooth muffins, I recommend using a food processor, if you don’t mind banana chunks, mash the bananas and mix in by hand.
4. Mix together or sift in all dry ingredients except the matcha powder if you want green swirls like I made. Otherwise, add in the matcha so the green color and matcha flavor is distributed throughout the batter.
5. Pour the batter into the lined muffin cups. If you want matcha swirls, sprinkle a little matcha into each muffin cup and swirl with a toothpick.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the centers come out clean with a toothpick and the tops are just golden.
7. While they bake, you can make the chocolate frosting by melting the coconut oil and dairy-free chocolate chips together (if using). Then stir in the cacao. If you aren’t using chocolate chips, you can just mix together all other ingredients (in the notes section above).
8. Remove the muffins and remove them from the tray. Let cool a little before adding the chocolate drizzle unless you want warm/hot, gooey chocolate banana matcha muffins 🙂

Notes:

• If using a flax egg, make sure to let the flax and water set for about 5 minutes before mixing it in.