Elvis Muffins - Healthy, Vegan & Gluten-Free

Woah woah woah… Something that’s delicious, but has: no sugar, no eggs, no butter, no dairy, and is gluten-free? You’ve got to be kidding me…

Last night, I had the biggest craving for some muffins. I was thinking back to when I used to do a lot of baking, and many of my old recipes were either filled with butter and eggs (in my pre-vegan days), or loaded with sugar (in my pre-obsessed-with-health days), so none of those would suffice. I also had some healthier muffin recipes, but to be honest– they tasted too healthy. I wanted something that tasted like it wasn’t healthy, so that I could trick my cravings into believing that they were being satisfied. Enter: Elvis Muffins. Yes, you heard me. Elvis. Why did I name these after the legendary swoon-worthy hip-shaking singer? Peanut butter and banana, that’s why! These muffins are wholesome,with a twist of naughtiness, just like the man himself. Now, I’ve named a baked good after the king in the past; however, these are more suiting to the title.

Rambling aside, I present to you my recipe for Elvis Muffins. I tried to write down the exact quantities, but it’salways a little difficult to get it 100%, because I tend to do “a bit of this,a bit of that” when I’m in the kitchen.

A semi-related side note: I know a lot of people believe that baking is more like a science & math experiment with food, but I take a more laid-back approach with that. I like to take basic rules,and twist them around a bit to see what I can come up with. Sometimes I create horrific monsters in the form of “food”, and other times I’m pleasantly surprised. Luckily, this one turned out great! So here you go:

Elvis Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

• ½ cup almonds – ground into flour
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ¼ cup carob powder
• 2 tsp vanilla powder (ground up vanilla beans)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• Pinch of sea salt

Fake Egg Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ground chia seeds
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• About 4 tbsp water

Wet Ingredients:

• 3 ripe bananas
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup coconut butter
• 16-20 dates, soaked for 10 minutes in warm water [drain the water before using in the recipe]

Garnish:

• Remaining 2-3 tbsp of wet ingredients
• Small cut up pieces of dark chocolate [make sure to purchase gluten-free chocolate if you can't have gluten. Some brands of chocolate may have ingredients that contain gluten.]

Method:

• Pre heat oven to 350, and prepare a muffin tin with liners.
• Mix all dry ingredients into a bowl, and set aside.
• Mix all fake egg ingredients in a small bowl, stir, and set aside. [Normally, the flax seed and water takes a lot longer to get “eggy”, but the addition of ground chia seeds really helps the process along.]
• In a food processor or blender, mix all of the wet ingredients until combined. If you like chunks of banana in your muffins, don’t mix for too long!
• Set aside 2-3 tbsp of the wet ingredients to garnish the muffins.
• Add the “fake egg” ingredients, and the wet ingredients, into the bowl of dry ingredients. Mix just until combined and no more powdery parts are present in the batter. Don’t over-mix!
• Fill the muffin liners to the top – theywon’t rise too much because the batter is pretty dense.
• Top each muffin with a little bit of the left over wet ingredient batter, and press a small piece of dark chocolate into the top of each one.
• Bake for 20 minutes at 350.
• Reduce oven heat to 325, and bake for another 15 minutes.
• Turn off the oven, and let the muffins sit inside for another 5 minutes, and then remove from the oven to cool.
• Eat, and enjoy!